


Not Alone, But Only Human

by silver_wolf1249



Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace Lives, Ace is very sad, Ace-centric, Angst, Blackbeard dies...hopefully!, Dead!Luffy, Dead!Sabo, Don't Like Don't Read, Don't worry it'll be fine in the end, M/M, Thatch lives, Whitebeard Lives, my own interpretation, other tags will be added later probably because I don't know what else to add right now, probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2018-11-07 02:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11049168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_wolf1249/pseuds/silver_wolf1249
Summary: "On an island in the weakest of the four Blues, a boy stands on a cliff facing the sea, two gravestones in front of him."Ace sets out a bit earlier than before, at age sixteen after Luffy dies. This is his journey of events that occur when both and not just one of his brothers are dead.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, maybe not the best of summaries, but I wasn't exactly sure what else to say without spoiling like everything else. I hope you enjoy the prologue, it's really short but it's called the prologue for a reason. I promise the next chapter will be longer. Enjoy :)!

On an island in the weakest of the four Blues, a boy stands on a cliff facing the sea, two gravestones in front of him. He looks ruefully at the camera in his hands before raising it up and taking a picture of the graves, a brilliant sunrise rising up behind them. “Hey Sabo, hey Luffy.” Ace spoke bleakly, looking forlornly at the graves in front of him, “I know it’s still too early for me to set out before the promised age seventeen, but...it’s not like either of you kept your promises either. Besides, it’s not like I’ll be leaving much behind.”

 

“Luffy, I promised you I would live, and I plan on keeping that promise for as long as I’m able. One of us has to live to tell the tale and explore the world, don’t you think? But don’t think that the first time I meet someone stronger than me I won’t let them kill me, I didn’t deserve to be born anyway. If I were never born, maybe neither of you would’ve died.” Ace said softly, eyes dull.

 

He gently places the camera into the watermelon-patterned bag by his feet and pulls out three red small cups and a bottle of sake before he tightened the strings. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, Ace placed the three cups in between the two graves and poured a decent amount of the alcohol in each before placing the bottle next to the cups. He made his way down to the beach, where a lonely raft bobbed in the shallow water. Looking around, Ace carefully surveyed the area for any sign of people. He noticed a big woman with crazy red hair standing on a cliff next to a slender woman with green hair tied back with a yellow bandanna. The women waved at Ace, and the teen waved back lifelessly. 

 

Ace walked towards the raft, and as he got closer, he noticed a piece of paper nailed to the mast. He ripped it off to get a better look at it, and froze, before he shoved the paper into his bag and unfurled the raft’s sails. He untied his raft to start his journey, and his lips quirked up slightly, though his eyes still held immense sadness in them as he reread the letter in his mind. ‘ _ Dear Shitty Grandson, I know I can’t stop you from setting sail. It’s the one thing all three of you wanted, so I won’t stop you. Enjoy your journey, live with no regrets, and most importantly, be safe you shitty grandson. Don’t head off with a death wish. Please don’t make me have to bury another grandson. I don’t think I would be able to. Yours truly, Grandpa.’ _

 

“It figures Gramps would get sentimental in his old age.” Ace mutters softly to himself, “If he becomes more soft I might have to start wondering what hit him so hard to actually give him brain damage...well more brain damage than he already has.”

 

The boy sat down on makeshift bench on his raft and waited for the waves to carry him farther and farther away from Dawn Island, and farther from the two graves that got smaller and smaller as he sailed further away, before they disappeared entirely from his sight.

 

 

 

 


	2. Meeting Shanks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically what the title says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's not really good, but I hope you enjoy the chapter! :)

Nearly half a year had passed since Ace departed from Dawn Island that he found the man he was looking for, Red-Haired Shanks. By that time, he had already formed a pretty decent reputation as one of the super rookies. He even had a reputation in the super rookies as the youngest and the only one to sail without a crew. It was just more convenient to him, he wouldn’t have to tell anybody about his narcolepsy, and there would be no one to pry into his life. Ace also had another reputation, but one he didn’t particularly appreciate, which was being known as the only pirate that no one’s ever seen the emotion of other than anger, the only emotion that was seen quite often. It had nearly given him the moniker Portgas “Stone-Cold” Ace until he ate the Mera Mera no Mi and became Portgas “Firefist” Ace, which to the teen was quite ironic, as his fiery temper had left him as soon as Luffy’s last breath left his lungs.

 

He climbed up the mountain to where it was rumored that the Red-Haired Pirates were visiting. Even when a blizzard unexpectedly hit, Ace kept moving forwards. He was thankful he had eaten the Mera Mera no Mi just a few months ago, so he wasn’t affected at all by the cold. The teen soon found a cave that showed signs of life within and took a gamble. He quickly walked into the cave (he may not feel the cold, but it didn’t mean he wanted to be stuck in the blizzard) and saw Red-Haired Shanks sitting in the back of the cave drinking and eating with the rest of his crew, all of who stopped what they were doing when they noticed the intruder. “Is one of the super rookies trying to aim for my head?” Shanks jokingly asks, and Ace’s elation at finding the man dwindles, as he knew he was about to break the positive atmosphere in the cave with his news.

 

Ace walked in front of the fire so that the pirates could see him more clearly. He frowns slightly, “I’m not here for your head Shanks.” he says slowly, “I’m just here to bring you some information. I hope you don’t mind?”

 

The pirate sits in anticipation and curiosity as Ace takes his bag off his shoulder. He loosens the strings and takes out a very recognizable straw hat with a red ribbon wrapped around the brim. Shanks and the rest of his crew freeze. “Where’d you get that hat.” Shanks growls, lowering his head so that his bangs covered his eyes, making him look menacing in the flickering flames, “I gave that hat to someone very dear to me, and if they’re hurt in any way then you’ll suffer the consequences.”

 

Ace smiles bitterly while holding the hat in both hands. Bowing low Ace says as politely as he can, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Shanks, my name is Portgas D. Ace. I always wanted to thank you from saving my little brother when he was younger. However, I’m sorry to say that he’s no longer...among the world of the living. Luffy told me to give his hat back to you and tell you he’s sorry that he couldn’t keep his promise to you.”

 

Shanks looks at the boy in disbelief, and Ace knows that it seems impossible for Luffy to be dead, he himself still can’t believe it sometimes. A hush so silent falls over the people that only the crackling of the flames is heard. “You can keep the hat.” Shank’s voice cracks as he speaks, and he sets his rum down next to him, knowing full well if the boy in front of him spoke the truth then they shouldn’t be celebrating, “If you’re Luffy’s older brother then you should keep the hat, or give it back to Luffy when you go back to Dawn Island. Luffy earned that hat, so I won’t take it back. But, can you tell us...how-how did Luffy die?.

 

Ace rises from his bow and looks at Shanks with eyes that reminded the pirate captain of the living dead as he placed Luffy’s hat back in his bag, “He died about a year ago. Luffy got really sick a couple of years ago, some incurable disease. The doctors tried their best, what with him being the marine hero Garp’s grandson, but Luffy died anyway.” he spat out.

 

Shanks and the other pirates who had known Luffy held a brief moment of silence so they could mourn for the lovable rubbery little boy they met on an island in East Blue. Then Ace sighed looked down onto the cave floor, “Not to mention we had just lost Sabo a couple years before Luffy. Six years ago I had two brothers, and now I have none. Fate can be a fucking bitch.”

 

Shanks and the others stare at the rookie sadly, by the way Ace talked his brothers, they were like the moon and stars to the teen. To lose both in such a short span of years, not to mention at such a young age, their hearts couldn’t help but want to reach out to him. Shanks took a better look at the teen, and felt that his name and his facial features reminded him of someone, but he couldn’t remember who. Then realization hits him, “Portgas D. Ace...was your mother named Portgas D. Rouge by any chance?” he asks warily.

 

Ace sucked in a cold breath, “How’d you know my mother?” he questioned back cautiously.

 

Shanks held his hands up in an attempt to placate the boy. “The reason I know your mother is because she was my previous captain’s lover. I heard rumors that she was pregnant, but I never knew it was true.” he notices Ace’s glare and increasing suspicion and amends, “If it’s about your father, know that none of us here care who your father was. I personally admired him, but I know you probably hate his guts, and sadly I can’t blame you for it. Just knowing what most people think about the old man I assume if it weren’t for your brothers you would have died much, much earlier.”

 

Understanding starts to dawn on the rest of Shank’s crew, and Shanks doesn’t have to mention that by Ace’s early death he means suicide. “I wanted to.” Ace replied, expression stone-cold, “A lot of the time, I still want to. I mean, growing up with people telling me that if the Pirate King had a child they should die a miserable death since they would be a cursed, demon child didn’t exactly help either.”, Ace sees the pirates’ concerned looks, but ignores them as best he can.

 

Shanks stood up from where he sat and walked over to Ace, wrapping him in a big hug and ignoring the squeak of surprise he received before Ace started awkwardly hugging back. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that.” Shanks mumbles, voice uncharacteristically soft, “I’ve only met you for less than ten minutes and I can already tell that you have a heart of gold even though it’s hard to earn. I’m sorry you lost both of your brothers, I only ever knew one of them but neither deserved their untimely deaths.”

 

The surrounding pirates grinned at Ace and their Captain fondly. “Hey Shanks!” Lucky Roo calls out, “Why don’t you be the kid’s family? You seem to like the kid and he looks like he needs some people to look after him, with all the stunts he’s pulled as a super rookie already!”

 

Shanks finally let go of Ace, using his only hand to firmly grip Ace’s left shoulder. He looked at the boy carefully, before inquiring, “Would you accept the offer?”

 

Ace felt that the situation he was in was quite surreal, in the little time he had spent in the cave with him and his crew he had practically told them his entire life story. He had heard stories about Shanks from Luffy, but meeting him in person really made Ace respect the man, even if his face never showed it. At the same time, Ace didn’t want a family, didn’t need anyone to get close to him, regardless of how strong they were. He only bring them bad luck like he did his brothers. “I’m really sorry,” Ace told Shanks, “but I don’t think I’d want that. No offence to you or anything, I hope you understand. After losing Sabo and Luffy, I’m not exactly prepared to grow any more attachments to anyone.”

 

Shanks grinned ruefully, “I presume this is why you have no crew” he asked, and as Ace nodded in assent Shanks hugged the boy in front of him yet again, “That’s fine,” the red-haired man told Ace, “but I hope you won’t mind if I keep in touch with you? You are the son of my previous captain and Luffy’s older brother, so I feel some obligation to at least get to know you properly.”

 

Ace thought it over before he nodded, it wasn’t like knowing a Yonko would be bad for him, if anything it might even be beneficial. “Why don’t we drink in honor of Luffy and Sabo tonight.” Shanks asked his crew, “Also for the finding of my previous captain’s son!”

 

The pirates cheered and the black pit of emptiness in Ace’s chest receded, if only slightly. They drank and toasted, cried and told stories. Ace had never felt more accepted than when his brothers had been alive, but tried his best to sit on the sidelines, he didn’t want to get too attached. Three days later and after the consummation of almost all of the food and booze the Red-Haired Pirates had brought with them up the mountain, Ace was ready to continue his journey. Unlike the others, Ace wasn’t hungover because of his Devil Fruit, which made it hard for him to be drunk. He began to say his farewells to the Red-Haired Pirates when Shanks stopped him. He pulled out a baby den den mushi and a piece of paper and handed it to Ace, “Take this with you,” he slurred slightly, “Contact us anytime you can, got it? If we don’t hear from you within a month then we’ll hunt you down to make sure ok.”

 

Ace took the den den mushi and the paper, placing the den den mushi into his pocket. He observed the black piece of paper before looking at Shanks questionly. Shanks grinned, “The piece of paper is called a Vivre Card. Let it float in your hand, see how it’s floating to me? If you ever need to find me just use this to do so. If the Vivre Card ever deteriorates, it means that I’m in danger, though it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever see that. Useful bit of parchment isn’t it?”

 

Ace looked at the piece of paper in his hands with a new light. He took off the cowboy hat he always wore and tucked the paper in the brim. He placed the hat back on his head and nodded in thanks at Shanks, “Thank you Shanks, for everything. I promise I’ll call as often as possible.”

 

Ace let go of Shanks and waved goodbye to the other pirates before he slung his bag over his shoulders and started the trek down the mountain. When he finally reached the bottom, he headed over to his skiff and began to untie it. When he finally set sail he leaned against his seat. He pulled his hat down a little past his forehead and took out the camera in his bag. He snapped a photo of the mountain he had just clambered down from before placing the camera back and turning away to look out over the expansive sea in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment below if there's any problems you found (I tend to accidentally switch between past and present tense, which is a pain to edit, and I don't quite get everything XD) or if you just want to say hi! Ace is ooc, but I hope it kind of makes sense (if you think he's too ooc tell me so I can try to fix it). Again, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! :)


	3. On The Moby Dick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, Ace meets the Whitebeard Pirates and sparks of interest flow between our favorite Phoenix and fire logia ;). Also, Ace is angry at everything, which...shouldn't be too much of a surprise, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, new chapter! I gave up on the original second chapter I wrote and so I wrote an entirely new chapter, which is why it took longer than expected (this is pretty much my betaing XD I'm never satisfied so I never get anything done). Longest chapter i have ever written (probably), and please don't expect another one this long for the next few chapters because I'll probably shorten them for convenience purposes (mainly my sanity and well being). That being said, I hope you enjoy the chapter! 
> 
> *Update: So I finally rewrote part of the chapter, and I hope this seems a bit more plausible to you guys.

Ace loved to fight, loved the challenge and the stress relief he received from it. Unfortunately, no one had really given him a challenge so far, not anywhere throughout Paradise. It was understandable, Ace had forced Garp to teach him at a young age as the old marine stayed on the island longer to spend what little time he had left with his youngest grandson. The teen had needed a distraction, from the disappointing doctor’s reports and Luffy’s haggard form in the hospital in the too white room they had placed him in. He threw himself into training, quickly learning all three types of Haki, learning secret marine fighting tactics that Garp had allowed Ace to learn like Soru, sparring against his gramps that sometimes needs the distraction as much as he does. He spent every moment not training with Luffy, telling him stories and the latest news. In only two years he mastered Haki, and one more for everything else. He had been only thirteen and Luffy’s condition was getting worse, the doctor’s had told him he wasn’t going to live past a year.

 

Unfortunately, even fighting wasn’t enough, sometimes even making things worse. After Ace had once again brutally beaten up another bandit group that had “ticked him off”, the kind barmaid had sat Ace down and told him, “Ace, if you continue on like this, you’re going to get yourself hurt, if not killed!” she had said in concern, “Instead of going after people to beat up, try something else. There must be other things you can do!”

 

Feeling bad for worrying the woman who was pretty much his mother, Ace had agreed and tried out different activities to see what else could help him take his mind off of Luffy’s sickness. He particularly had a preference for art, and he could often times be found in random places about the island attempting to sketch or paint the area. It was relaxing, and his mind instantly cleared the moment his pencil or paintbrush touched paper. In the beginning, the drawings had been terrible, but they made Luffy happy to see where his older brother had traveled that day, and Ace grew determined to perfect his abilities so that the sketches would look life-like enough. Eventually, he developed his abilities enough that his brother had insisted there was no way Ace had drawn it, and that a professional had. Insulted, Ace had immediately sat down and personally made a sketch of his younger brother.

 

After a particularly bad day where Luffy had felt too sick to even smile, Ace started studying the human body, diseases, and medicine. Ace wanted to understand just what exactly was wrong was his little brother, and also wanted to see if he could find a cure. Just because the doctors had said it was incurable didn’t necessarily mean it was, they could just haven’t found a cure yet. His search led him to some engineering, biology, and chemistry, which he tried to absorb as much as possible. Most of it made his head spin just by looking at the unfamiliar terms and complicated processes, but he started from the beginning and worked his way upwards, slowly gaining a better understanding of everything. After reviewing Luffy’s illness once more, Ace was devastated to find that his disease really was incurable, but was still determined to create medical equipment or medicine that would help his little brother live for a while longer, feel no pain before he passed. Garp encouraged his eldest’s pursuits, and helped him whenever he could (and if that meant using a lab and tools owned by the marines or gaining materials, he would do it.)

 

However, even with all the improvements Ace had managed to succeed with, Luffy still passed away, five years after he had been placed in the hospital. Anyone who knew the boy had all thought that it was too soon, he had only been thirteen, didn’t even get to leave the island for his dream. There was nothing much on the island left for Ace after Luffy died. Both of his brothers were now gone, Garp had buried himself under work and had left the island. Makino and the bandits were still in mourning, but they would be fine. So just a week later, Ace had taken his belongings, some money, food, and the camera Makino had given him as a gift, and left the island to start his own adventure.

 

______________________________________________________________________________

 

Just a couple weeks after meeting Shanks, Ace went against the Warlord Jinbei. Ace still hadn’t needed to use his full strength, but the fishman was a decent opponent, and the flame user could understand why he was made a Shichibukai in the first place. However, in just two days he had knocked the Warlord out cold, barely breaking a sweat himself. He bandaged up his injuries as best as he could along with the fishman’s. It wasn’t as if he actually cared if the guy died or not, but he felt that it would be a shame if he let such an interesting sparring partner die. Three days later and still waiting for Jinbei to wake (Ace had been confused why the fishman hadn’t woken up yet, but later determined that Jinbei hadn’t had enough rest the past week or so, and his body was probably catching up still and left him be). He feels out the island and the ocean surrounding it with his Observer’s Haki, and notices a large ship sailing towards the island. It’s the Moby Dick, Whitebeard’s ship, it’s telltale whale figurehead bobbing towards him. The teen stared in curiosity at the ship, careful to show no emotion on his face. He learned quite quickly on his journey that people were unnerved by those who showed no reaction, and it often helped him drive others away from him. Sometimes he wished he truly was emotionless, for then he would no longer feel the constant aching pain in his chest.

 

“Gurarara! Who is the brat that thinks they can fight me!” a voice boomed from the ship, and soon Ace observes Whitebeard himself along with several of his commanders and other crew members right behind him, “You’re a hundred years too early to even think about beating me!”

 

Once the ship reached land, Whitebeard jumps off and lands on the island with a deafening boom. Ace cocks his head slowly at the strongest man in the world, “And what do you know about me?” he asks as tonelessly as he can, while internally he seethes, “I’m not like most other reckless rookies you know. I actually set out somewhat prepared. Don’t dismiss me so quickly when we haven’t even exchanged fists yet, Newgate.”

 

The teen abruptly remembers the fishman still resting peacefully behind him and turns to grab him by the back of Jinbei’s clothes, knowing that Whitebeard had enough honor not to attack him when his back was turned. He lightly tossed the Warlord towards the Moby Dick, where several pirates banded together to catch him and take him away to the infirmary. “By the way,” the flame-use mentioned casually, “your Shichibukai ally of yours came by to stop me, but in the end I was the one who won. People should _really_ learn not to underestimate me.”

 

Whitebeard looks at Ace questioningly, as he were a puzzle the older pirate would like to solve, but the look disappears as quickly as it had come. He swung his bisento about and thrust it at Ace, who nimbly dodged and sent a fist of fire right back. After that is a bit of a blur to the teen, but Ace remembers fun and freedom packed in a nice little package, almost like an early Christmas gift, if he were the type of person to celebrate that kind of thing that is. He’s pretty sure he accidentally broke his emotionless facade for a bit to reveal the slightly maniacal smile from the exhilarating freedom he felt while battling the strongest man alive. Ace however did try to keep his cards close to his chest, he didn’t want to let Whitebeard know all his tricks just yet. But the exhaustion from fighting Jinbei and his still healing injuries earlier also caught up to him, and he was finally knocked into the beach with a loud thud after a hard smack with Whitebeard’s bisento.

 

Ace chuckled weakly to himself, covering his eyes with his hands so his opponent couldn’t see his eyes, which were slowly but surely filling up with tears. This was as far as he could go? He was going to die here without having truly making a name for himself? Without being able to fulfill his brother’s dreams for them? Even if he didn’t really feel like living, this was not how he had wanted to go to the other side. The teen felt a narcolepsy attack sneak onto him, and as he fell asleep he distantly wonders why Whitebeard still hasn’t killed him yet.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

Whitebeard doesn’t know what to think about the young pirate he had just fought, who is currently passed out on the beach in front of him. What made him more confused was that he had heard that the young man was a ruthless, emotionless person that would kill for the fun of it. The _teenager_ he had fought held none of those qualities, though the boy was quite powerful for his age, at least as strong as a Vice Admiral. Despite Jinbei purposely attempting to block him from getting to the Whitebeard Pirates, Ace did not kill him, even tended to his wounds and kept watch over him. In fact, the nurses had commented that the brat’s ministrations over the Shichibukai wounds looked semi-professional, as if the boy had studied medicine at least for a short while. And contrary to what most of the world thought, the boy had emotions. Whitebeard hadn’t missed the way Ace had revealed a sort of animalistic joy when fighting him, and Whitebeard isn’t sure if he should be worried that that’s what made Ace show emotion, or be glad that the boy could even show emotion.

 

Shirohige noticed the boy had covered his face after he hit the sand, and realized soon after that the teen was crying. The pirate captain frowned, and something panged in his chest. Now he was certain, Whitebeard knew that he would not, could not, kill this boy, who seemed to still have so much to do in his life, who had been through something that made the boy keep a mask on his face to hide any true emotion. He strode over to the flame user, and picked him up gently with one large hand. Cradling his new charge, the strongest man in the world jumped back onto his ship, his children crowding around him to get a closer glimpse of the kid who had challenged him. “I’ve decided,” he announced, catching his children’s attention, “that this boy will be your new brother. Can someone bring him to the infirmary to take care of his wounds? Afterwards, place him in one of the empty guest rooms, I doubt he’ll be happy to share with anyone. Also, search his boat and place his belongings in the room with him.”

 

His children nod and a few nurses come up with a stretcher to take Ace to the infirmary while some of his other children head for the skiff not too far away. As the Moby Dick set sail once again, Marco ambled towards him, though his eyes are still of Ace’s limp form as the nurses carry him into the infirmary, the hand covering his face lying limply by his side, making the tear tracks on his face visible to anyone with eyes. “Will he be willing to join the crew, yoi?” his son inquired casually, “He seems like he’ll fight back quite a bit before he even thinks of it.”

 

“The boy has something about him.” Whitebeard replied thoughtfully, “He looks like he’s been through much. In fact, he even reminds me a little of how you used to be when we first met. He’s been harmed by the world, just like many of your brother and sisters have been. I’m sure that with time, we can heal the scars on his heart, maybe not completely, but I want to give the boy a family. It looks like he needs one.”

 

Marco merely nodded, eyes still fixed on the entrance to the infirmary. Whitebeard grinned, “It seems you have an interest on the newest addition to our ship?”

 

The Phoenix looked at his father, face slightly flushed, “I don’t, yoi!” he insisted.

 

“Oh really? Because you’ve been staring at the infirmary door for our entire conversation. Got an explanation for that brat?”

 

Marco frowned in agitation, “It’s not what you think.” he mumbled, “For some reason my Devil Fruit abilities have been acting up since I first saw him.”

 

“What do you mean?” Whitebeard asked, growing concerned for his son.

 

“It might be something that has to do with Ace’s Devil Fruit abilities, since he is technically fire.” the First Division Commander muttered, “For some reason my phoenix is _drawn_ to him, yoi. I’m currently uncertain of what ze’s intentions are though.”

 

“Intriguing.” Whitebeard commented, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “I’m sure we’ll eventually find out won’t we?”

 

Marco nodded and headed towards his room, griping softly to himself about the load of paperwork he still had to complete, and Whitebeard chuckled deeply. He was sure that all would be well in his family.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

Ace woke up, blinking his eyes blearily as he tried to clear up his vision. He didn’t recognize the room he was placed in, the skiff he had sailed in .didn’t have enough space for an actual room After quickly recollecting himself and going through his memories, he remembered what had happened before he blacked out. ‘ _I’m on Whitebeard’s ship aren’t I?’_ Ace thought to himself, before noticing his belongings on a table in the corner. He got up as quickly as he could, wincing slightly at the pings of pain all over his body, ‘ _I overdid it.’_ he thought sourly, before walking over to the table.

 

His hands went first to his bag, and, upon opening the drawstring, Ace was glad to see his belongings inside were all there and hadn’t been rummaged through either. Next to his bag were his hat, which he placed firmly upon his head, and his log pose, which he fastened to his wrist. He went back to the bed and sat down to think over why he was on the Moby Dick and not dead. It didn’t make any sense, he had attacked Whitebeard, yet the pirates had let him live, they even tended his wounds! Just then, someone knocked on the door, “Hello! You awake yet?” a cheerful voice questioned.

 

Saying nothing, Ace laid back down on his bed, hoping that the man outside wouldn’t barge in to check on him. Sadly, his hopes were crushed when instead of going away, the man opened the door and saw that Ace was awake. The flame user sighed and got back up, eyeing the other warily. The man was tall, dressed in chef’s clothing with a very red pompadour styled on his head. “Ah, so you are up! Are you feeling ok?” the chef asked, “By the way, the name’s Thatch!”

 

Ace shrugged, “I’m fine.” he said flatly, in hopes that the answer would make the chef go away.

 

The teen wasn’t too concerned to be on the ship, he had heard that the Whitebeard Pirates were honorable people, and if he was still alive it meant they wanted something from him, so they wouldn’t kill him just yet. Not to mention, even if they did attack, Ace was strong enough to take out enough people to let himself escape, unless he was up against several commanders at once or the captain himself. Thatch seemed satisfied by his answer, but didn’t look like he was leaving anytime soon “Well, come on! I have to bring you to see Oyaji and the others!”

 

Ace stiffened, ever so slightly so that the other man wouldn’t notice. The word “Oyaji” rang through his mind. He hated the word, hated it’s meaning and everything else about it. For the moment, he placed the thought away as Thatch placed a hand on his arm to lead him presumably to Whitebeard. Ace pushed back the instinct to set the man on fire (it would be a stupendously idiotic action, even from Ace’s standards) and docilely trailed behind the chef, up stairways and through hallways, until they had reached the deck of the ship. Throughout the short trip, the fiery teen felt awkward and naked, even if he didn’t outwardly show it. Every single person they had passed by so far had stared at him in curiosity, and he didn’t like it. He soon saw the familiar giant of a man Whitebeard, and wondered what the pirate wanted from him. “Hello son.” the man began, and Ace saw red.

 

The teen automatically lit himself on fire, “ _I am_ _not your son._ ” he growled defiantly, “I’ve never had a father, I’ve never _needed_ a father. I certainly don’t need you pretending to be my father.”

 

Whitebeard stared pensively at him, before he laughed boisterously, “Gurarara! Cheeky brat. Fine, you don’t have to be my son yet, but we’ll sure try our best to change your mind!”

 

The pirates around him chuckled and agreed. The fire user fumed some more, carefully stuffing his flames back after a while. “Well, at least it’s good to know that “Firefist” Ace can actually show emotions!” a pirate exclaimed.

 

Ace wanted to punch the guy’s face in, but refrained, once again placing a blank mask on his face. “Is that all you wished to talk to me about?”

 

“No, I also wanted to introduce you to the rest of the crew.” Whitebeard replied, “They’d love to meet who’s going to be their newest brother.”

 

Pirates cheered and agreed, but the teen’s surroundings dimmed and changed, as if time was being stopped. “Brother.” he said hoarsely, lowering his hat to shadow his eyes, “Brother, you say?”

 

“Well, of course! Oyaji thought you’d be a great addition to the family!” a pirate called out obliviously, as others started backing away when they noticed something didn’t seem right, and Ace felt something inside him snap.

 

Hurtling towards the pirate who spoke, the flame user grabbed the man by the neck and lifted him so that his feet dangled mid air. “You will never be my brothers.” he hissed, glaring at the man, “Just like I don’t need a father, I don’t need any brothers either.”

 

The man choked, and Ace’s mouth turned up into a cruel smirk, before throwing the man over the boat and into the ocean. He turned to face the Whitebeard Pirates, most of whom had already taken out weapons or gotten into fighting stances. A few had already gone to save the man overboard. Ace’s face returned to its blank state, “If this is why you want to keep me on the ship, then I suggest you to drop me off at the nearest island so I can go on my way. Unless of course you want more incidents like this to occur.”

 

Whitebeard was frowning now, but next to him, a blonde man whispered into his ear, and the old man looked at the other in curiosity. He whispered something back and the blonde headed towards Ace, hands held out to show he meant no harm. Ace looked at the blonde man, and allowed him to get closer, as he felt no ill intent like he did from several others on the ship, including a now soaked pirate. “My name is Marco.” the blonde states casually as he stopped less than an arm’s length away.

 

“Ah, the First Division Commander, yes?” Ace questioned, wondering what the man was going to do, when all of a sudden he felt a hand resting on his left shoulder.

 

He flinched and unconsciously lit himself on fire, no longer holding back as he did with Thatch since he knew the man was capable of healing instantly. A few pirates started to get closer, shouting something or other, but a few words from Whitebeard stopped them. Marco merely grinned as he burst into azure and yellow flames, leaving Ace breathless. The phoenix’s flame felt cool to the touch, inviting and pleasant. It felt so nice, reminding Ace of the times his brothers were still alive. When he had felt loved and not alone Unknowingly, Ace had stepped towards Marco, hand reaching out in awe and gripping Marco’s left shoulder with his right hand, basking in the flames with a soft smile on his face. He noticed Marco looking back at him in wonder and in understanding, as if he knew what Ace had been through. Slowly, the blue flames sunk back into Marco’s skin and Ace felt woozy, and realized he had _smiled_ in front of the entire Whitebeard crew. ‘ _Well fuck.’_ he thought, briefly peeking at Marco through nearly closed eyes as his vision tunneled and he embraced another narcolepsy attack.

 

______________________________________________________________________________

 

When Marco saw Ace’s reactions to the words father, son, and brother, he felt his phoenix wish to comfort him, to bask him in flames in hopes to distract the boy from whatever made him feel as if he didn’t need a family. Then Ace had thrown Tom overboard and while Marco was concerned for his brother, he was also worried for Ace. The teen was good at masking his feelings, but now he just looked furious, heartbroken, and lost. Marco’s phoenix crooned sadly at the sight, Ace needed and wanted a family, even if he didn’t know it, and the First Division Commander hoped the Whitebeard Pirates could be that family. The call to comfort Ace from his phoenix grew stronger, until Marco couldn’t stand it anymore. “Oyaji, can I try something real quick, yoi?” he whispered to his father.

 

Whitebeard had looked curious at the question, but had nodded, “If you think you can calm him down that would be great.” he whispered back, and Marco headed towards the fire user.

 

Ace gazed him, not hostile, but not quite inviting either. Marco introduced himself as he walked closer to the fiery teen with no hint of aggression so far. The First Division Commander had somehow managed to get within a foot of the younger pirate and placed a hand on the teen’s shoulder to test out a theory he had been building up in his mind. What happened after that left him amazed and confused all at once. Ace had released his flames, which licked Marco’s hand, but the flames switched between burning and freezing temperatures. His Phoenix was also projecting feelings ze could feel from the flames, which were pain, loneliness, fear, and anger. His own flames shot out of his body to mingle with Ace’s, sometimes looking as if they were trying to caress the teen’s flames, which flickered and sparked angrily about.

 

They probably made quite a sight, with Ace’s reds, oranges, and yellows mixing in with Marco’s blues and yellows, but neither of them seemed to really care. Marco regarded Ace comprehendingly,  Ace had most likely lost his family or something similar to the sort, so he was lonely, hurt, and angry. The fear however, Marco did not fully comprehend, did Ace fear getting close to other people? Did he fear that the Whitebeard Pirates would attack him? Or perhaps it was something else entirely? The Phoenix wasn’t sure, but when he noticed Ace was smiling, he stared on in amazement, because admittedly, the young pirate was cute. When he was smiling though? He looked _stunning._ If Marco weren’t who he was he would have felt ashamed for thinking such, but as it was, the Commander knew he wouldn’t act on such attractions, at least not for quite some time. After letting his fire out for a bit, Marco pulled them back in after noticing that Ace was calm once again. He had also noticed that Ace had gotten closer to him and had placed a hand on his shoulder, but ignored it for now. As soon as he had taken his fire back, Ace looked dazed, looking around as if realizing where he was for the first time before lurching forward into Marco and promptly passing out.

 

Marco caught Ace quickly and sighed, looking around at his family that looked back at him in shock and awe. He looked towards his father, “Oyaji, I think it’d be best to try not to mention a lot about family to him from now on, yoi. It seems that something happened to his, leaving him to reject family, even just the words, of any kind, though I’m not exactly sure why.”

 

“How do you know this, son?” Whitebeard questioned, brows furrowed in confusion and slight consternation.

 

“This...I’ll tell you later, yoi.” Marco replied, looking around apologetically at the rest of his family, “Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to tell you how I know, but I’m not really sure how I know. I have a theory, but I’d rather discuss it first with Oyaji before anything, yoi.”

 

His family chimed in voices telling him it was ok, they understood, and Marco relaxed. He looked at Ace, still in his arms, and rearranged him so that he was bride carrying the teen. “He’s probably still healing from his injuries.” he reasoned, “I’ll take him back to his room, yoi.”

 

He turned away and headed towards the room Ace was situated in. Marco had a feeling that Ace’s arrival on the ship would be a very intriguing experience, to say the least. The Commander grinned to himself, ‘ _It seems that things will get much more lively around here from now on.’_ he thought to himself as he walked down the corridors to Ace’s room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to feel Ace is getting a bit too OOC. If you think so too, tell me and I'll change it, if you don't I'll just leave it be. Poor Ace :(, that poor adorable smol angry kitten. Good thing the Whitebeard Pirates are here to help and deal with whatever Ace plans on doing (in canon Ace tried assassination attempts, in this...well, who knows?). If you got any suggestions comment below! I won't give a guarantee I'll add it, but I will consider them. If there's anything else you want to add then also comment below (Yes, I really like comments i practically live off of them :P). Also if anyone knows how you do those line thing a majigies in between POVs and stuff, it'd be lovely if you could teach me.


	4. A Short Interim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace talks to the red haired pirates, steals some stuff, and other stuff happens....yeah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished the chapter! It wasn't originally going to be so long, but it kind of got out of hand? (It's why it was the interim, because nothing important really happens.) Warning, this is not beta'ed, actually, none of the chapters are, so if you see any mistakes or something, tell me and I'll try my best to fix it. I hope you enjoy the chapter :) !

When Ace awoke again it was nighttime, moonlight filtering in from a small window. He sat up, ‘ _ Who brought me back here?’ _ he wondered, before remembering what had happened before his narcolepsy had taken over once more. He buried his face into his hands, ‘ _ I can’t believe I made a fool of myself in front of the Whitebeard Pirates.’ _ Ace groaned to himself, ‘ _ I actually  _ smiled. _ But...his flames felt really nice...shut up! This is not the time for this! I haven’t...I haven’t smiled like that in a long time, at least not since Luffy…’ _

 

His thoughts trailed off, and Ace looked blankly at his belongings, before once more standing up to walk over to it. From his bag he pulled out the den den mushi Shanks had given him, and rubbed the snail’s shell to start the call. The snail purred, “Pururu, pururu.”

 

Finally on the fourth tone someone picked up, “Hello?” a cheerful voice exclaimed from the den den mushi, sounds of a party blasting about in the background.

 

“Hi Lucky, it’s me.” Ace replied softly into the receiver, recognizing Lucky Roo’s voice instantly.

 

“Ace? Guys, quiet down! Ace’s on the line!”

 

The background quieted, only to be disrupted by a multitude of voices, “Ace! What’s up?”

 

“Oh, it’s Ace? How’s it going?”

 

“Sparky’s on the line? Anything happen since the last time you called?”

 

“Hey Ace, what trouble did you get into this time?”

 

“Did you meet anyone new?”

 

The teen smiled softly as the pirates swarmed the den den mushi, feeling a breath of warmth surround him. The Red-Haired Pirates had managed to squirm their way into Ace’s heart, even if he chose not to join them and refused Shank’s offer to be his family. He knew it was pretty stupid, forcing them away when he had already offered them a piece of himself on a golden platter, but he told himself it was better this way, and most of the time he believed himself. His face morphed into something more upset when he remembered where he was and how he had come to be here. “Well,” he said, pausing a bit to create suspense, “I just got captured by the Whitebeard Pirates in the last, what, twenty-four hours ago? I think anyway.”

 

A silence fell over the other side of the den den mushi, until Ace could hear Shanks’ voice. “Are you alright? Do you need us to come get you?” the red-haired pirate asked, concern and seriousness bleeding into his tone.

 

Ace shrugged, “I’m fine, just a bit banged up. Whitebeard told me they wanted me to join their crew, which is why I’m not dead yet for trying to kill the guy. I’m currently on the Moby Dick, though where exactly I have no clue.”

 

“Oh really?” Shanks asked, a hint of danger lurking in his seemingly carefree speech, “How much were you injured and who injured you?”

 

“Don’t be such a mother hen Captain, Ace can hold himself up in a fight, even against the Whitebeard Pirates. He probably doesn’t have anything worse than a concussion or a few cracked ribs” Ace heard Shank’s sharpshooter tell Shanks.

 

“Listen to Yassop,” he said, “besides, they did bandage my wounds. They don’t seem to be too bad, so I’ll think I should be safe here. It seems you’re getting on in the years if you’re becoming this sentimental, old man.”

 

“I’m not old!”

 

“You’re in your late thirties Captain, you’re pretty old.” a recent Red-Haired Pirate, Rockstar, if Ace was hearing correctly, intervened.

 

“Shut up!”

 

A small smile graced Ace’s lips at their antics, “Anyway, you guys should just do whatever you were doing originally, I’ll be ok. If need be, I can wait till we reach an island and escape there. For now, it seems I’ll have to be a bit wary, I did throw a man overboard after all.”

 

Laughter tumbled out of the den den mushi, “You threw a guy overboard? That’s priceless, I’m surprised you’re still ok! The Whitebeard Pirates are famous for being overprotective of their own.”

 

Ace hummed, “Also, what do you know about the First Division Commander?”

 

“Marco? He’s a good guy, every time I visit I ask if he’d join my crew.” Shanks replied, “He always refuses though. Why do you want to know?”

 

The teen backtracked, “Ah, it’s nothing, just met him recently. He seems like an interesting guy.”

 

“Oho? Benn, it seems like Sparky’s got a crush!” Shanks immediately exclaimed.

 

“No I don’t!” Ace protested (hint: nearly screamed) into the den den mushi, still aware that he was on an enemy’s ship and didn’t feel too inclined on waking everyone on the ship up.

 

He heard a long suffering sigh, “Captain, from what I’ve heard, Ace has barely been on the Moby Dick for more than a few hours, and has spent most of them sleeping. There is no way he could have developed feelings for any of the crewmembers. Please stop joking or we’ll have another  _ incident _ again, if you understand what I’m referring to. The first time was already one too much.”

 

“Oh come on Benn, don’t be such a spoilsport. It wasn’t that bad last time!”

 

“I think you and I remember events  _ quite _ differently.”

 

More laughter was heard, and Ace grinned halfheartedly, “Ah, good times, good times. Well, it’s really late, so I’m going to try to go back to sleep ok? I’ll call next week to give you an update. If I don’t then assume I’m dead and promise to get revenge for me.” he said lightly.

 

“But of course! I’d finally have an actual reason to fight the old man! Have a good sleep. We’ll be waiting for that call next week!” Shanks cried out pleasantly.

 

The teen ended the call and placed the den den mushi back in his bag, shuffling back to his bed and laying down. He stared at the ceiling for quite some time, unable to fall asleep again. Rubbing a hand over his face and sighing, the fiery teen got back up again, this time heading towards the door. ‘ _ If I can’t go to sleep, then I’ll go find something to do on this godforsaken ship.’ _ he grumbled to himself before exiting the room.

 

______________________________________________________________________________

 

Morning found Marco waking up to shouting and heavy footsteps, nothing he wasn’t familiar with already. He groaned, as none of the possible scenarios going on outside appealed much to him, as it was most likely either a prank Thatch or Haruta had played, or people were attacking the ship again. Marco got up and prepared himself to go outside, but he was definitely not ready for the scene on the deck. Multiple family members were shouting, pointing fingers at each other with stormy faces. He shuffled towards his father, “Pops, what’s going on?” he inquired.

 

“Ah, it seems my son, that there have been multiple thefts last night of personal belongings, and everyone is blaming someone else for them, though Thatch was a popular candidate since Haruta is still on a mission.” Whitebeard replied, amused but slightly troubled, “That is, until they found out that the culprit had stolen from Thatch as well.”

 

Marco sighed and wished that he could go back to his room and pretend this mess never happened. Sadly, as the most mature person on the ship (which included Whitebeard, his father could be incredibly immature sometimes), he was the one who had to clean up this mess and find out who stole everything. Sighing again (and he knew it was going to be  _ that  _ kind of day), the phoenix went back to his room to grab a pen and a long piece of paper. Walking back onto the deck, he raised his voice, “Ok, everyone, line up and on this sheet of paper put your name and what you’re missing. Do  _ not _ put any suspects down, got it? You’ll get your stuff back after we find the culprit.”

 

His arguing family members halted, turned, and nodded, before forming a decent (for pirates anyway) line and started writing. The Commander had a pretty good suspicion for who stole all of his family’s belongings, specifically, a certain fire logia. The brat was a pretty good suspect considering an event of this magnitude had never happened before he came onto the boat. ‘ _ Kid hasn’t even been here for a full day and he’s already caused trouble.’ _ Marco groaned to himself, ‘ _ Guess I’ll have to check his room...might have to bring some helpers to take everything out, the list is getting disturbingly long.’ _

 

After the line had finally dissipated, Marco looked over the list. Some of the items seemed quite normal, such as books, paper, and pencils. Most however, were at least slightly suspicious, if not downright strange and somewhat worrisome. Certain pieces of medical equipment were missing from the infirmary, so were several tools from the shipwrights, as well as an entire barrel of gunpowder, and apparently, someone’s collection of knives (Marco really didn’t want to know the story behind that). He went over to where Jozu, Thatch, Izou, and Blamenco were gathered, gossiping like old biddies. “Can you guys come with me for a sec, yoi?”

 

They looked at each other quizzically, “Sure.” Jozu replied, “What do you need us for?”

 

“I have a pretty good idea who the thief is, so you guys are going to help me restrain the guy if needed, or just help me haul all the stuff back, yoi. That ok?”

 

“Sure.” the commanders agreed.

 

They trailed after Marco as he led them into the living quarters on the ship. “So, who’s the fool that actually dared to steal from at least half the crew?” Thatch inquired.

 

Marco stopped, and turned, raising an eyebrow, “Who else? Of course it’s the most recent member on the ship, yoi. Who else would without fearing retribution from the rest of the crew?”

 

The other commanders mulled over the thought, “I guess he’s a very likely suspect.” Izou commented, “So we’re going to see if he’s actually the culprit?”

 

Marco nodded, and they were soon facing the door of the teen’s current residence. “Come in.” a voice drawled from inside the room, “I’m presuming you’re here for the stolen objects?”

 

The First Division Commander sighed and opened the door. Jaws dropped in awe at the jumbled mess in front of them. Items were strewn across the room, books were stacked in half hazardous piles in the corner, and pieces of machinery and tools littered the floor around the young pirate, who looked to be tinkering with  _ something _ , though they couldn’t tell what it used to be. Paper and pencils were strewn about the desk, slightly hidden by the teen’s watermelon patterned bag. The barrel of gunpowder had been opened and shoved in a corner opposite that of the books, and other objects could be found all over the room, including a knife in the ceiling. Marco was curious where the other knives went, and found his answer after he had closed the door, the back of it impaled with a least a hundred of the sharp weapons. “Want to tell us why you decided it would be a good idea to steal belongings from at least half the people on the ship, yoi?” the phoenix inquired as casually as he could. 

 

Ace hummed, “Well you see, I woke up last night and couldn’t go back to sleep. I get bored easily, so I went out to go see if I could find anything to do. One thing led to another, and here I am.”

 

Thatch gaped at the young man, “Are you a kleptomaniac or something?”

 

A loud screech filled the room, and everyone covered their ears. Ace stopped fiddling with...whatever it was, and replied, “Well, I wouldn’t surprised if I was, considering my previous living conditions.” the teen responded cautiously, “Besides, I was really bored and I needed some stuff to do.”

 

“What did you do anyway?” Jozu questioned, most of the commanders staying near the doorway in case they stepped on something.

 

“Well, I decided to throw some knives, because why not? By the way, whoever owns those really has to get them sharpened, they’re pretty dull for such beautiful workmanship. Then I ran out of knives, so I decided to rework some of these machines. I stole some paper and pencils, so I made some designs to plan things out before I started.” Ace said flippantly, waving towards the pieces of paper.

 

“What are you doing to them by the way? We need those for Oyaji and other crew members.” Izou questioned, looking suspiciously at the pirate.

 

“If you think that I’m planning sabotage on the old man then you’ve got another thing coming.” Ace growled out furiously, hostility radiating off of him, “Especially when it comes to medical equipment, I’d  _ never ever  _ do that.”

 

The commanders stared at him in surprise, and decided to leave it for further investigation. “I must apologize, I didn’t mean to offend you.” Izou said.

 

There was a pause in the room until Ace seemed to get control over his emotions, and waved it off before continuing to mess with the machine, “It’s fine, you don’t know me and I’m fiddling with delicate and important instruments. But I’m actually doing the opposite you know, I’ve worked with machines like these before and I’ve learned how to improve them. With what I’m doing, Whitebeard could survive longer, and it would be more comfortable for him. If it makes you feel better you could get one of the doctor’s to check the machine afterwards.”

 

Marco nodded and signaled to the other to let it be, it wouldn’t be wise to anger the flame user again. “What about the other objects and materials you took, yoi?”

 

“Well, I was hoping that I’d be able to get to then at some point during the day.” the fiery teen responded as blankly as possible, “I was also hoping that you wouldn’t find out so soon, so I actually took some more stuff and hid them around the other living quarters.”

 

“You did what?” Thatch asked before laughing hysterically, “That’s priceless, it might have worked too if it weren’t for Marco.”

 

Ace seemed to be finished with whatever he was doing (it looked like a mix between an EKG, an oxygen mask, and other various bits of tubing and machinery, but who were they to judge) and finally looked at the commanders. “So, are you guys planning on taking this stuff back?” 

 

“Of course, well, not the sketches, those are yours, and you can keep the paper and pencils, but yes, we are here to reclaim these items. Most of our family is not happy with your stunt.” Jozu replied bluntly, “Though of course, as you have just arrived on our ships and don’t know the rules, I’m sure they won’t be too angry.”

 

Ace snorted and turned away before neatly gathering up everything he had stolen (bar the books, paper, and pencils of course) and gestured at the pirates. “You’re willing to just give it all back, yoi?” Marco questioned in disbelief.

 

“Well, it’s not mine in the first place, so of course I’ll give it back.”

 

“I thought this would be more difficult.” the phoenix muttered to himself before nodding, “Whatever, I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth, yoi. Can the rest of you help me carry all this stuff to the deck? Tell the others they can find their belongings there, and if they don’t it’s probably scattered about the ship, yoi.”

 

The commanders nodded soundlessly and quickly gathered up the objects before going outside, except for Marco, who stayed. The phoenix and fire logia held a mini staring contest. “What do you want?” Ace asked blandly.

 

“Well, yoi, if you’re hungry, feel free to join us in the mess hall for breakfast. You probably don’t know where it is, so just go to the deck and ask someone if you plan on joining us.” Marco said before he left the room.

 

‘ _ Strange guy. _ ’ Ace thought to himself.

 

His mind was made when his stomach grumbled loudly, he hadn’t eaten in over five days after all! Rising and heading towards the door, Ace stopped at the table once more and reached into his bag. He pulled out a well-worn straw hat and exchanged it with his cowboy hat. It felt like a Luffy kind of day. Walking outside his room, Ace used his haki to find where the largest amount of pirates were congregated. As he stood in front of what he assumed to be the mess hall, Ace debated with himself whether he should actually join them or not. On one hand, he was hungry, but on the other, he wasn’t too keen on letting the others know about his monstrous appetite or the staring he would receive. His stomach growled again and Ace groaned, he would eat like a normal person, but he would go and steal some food from the store rooms later on. Pushing the doors open, Ace felt a small sense of dread that he carefully made sure wouldn’t show on his face. Ignoring the stares he could feel as much as possible, he headed towards the table that the First Division Commander was sitting at. For some reason, the pineapple haired pirate had struck some sort of chord within him. He felt completely at ease in front of the man, even if he knew he should be wary of the entire crew. The teen sat down and grabbed a plate before filling it to a rough estimate of what a normal person would eat. Eating as politely as he could, the young pirate surveyed the people in the room to catalog their reactions. Around him, Marco looked slightly shocked, but pleased, and the one who introduced himself as Thatch unabashedly stared at him in disbelief. The cross-dressed man he had met earlier looked like Marco, surprised, but overall happy that he had joined them. The others in the room however, didn’t exactly feel the same way. He noticed several glares, most likely from the stunts he had pulled recently, though most seemed uncaring of his arrival, which the teen was glad for. “How old are you anyway?” the chef asked when he pulled himself out of his shock.

 

Ace swallowed the food he had in his mouth before he answered. “I’m currently seventeen, why do you ask?”

 

“So young?” Izou choked out, eyes wide, “I thought you’d at least be twenty, just looked younger than your age. When’d you set out?”

 

“Sixteen.” he responded flatly, his eyes sending out a warning not to ask further.

 

He was satisfied in the lull of conversation and continued eating. When the conversation picked back up, Ace made sure he would not be included. After he finished, he placed his plate where the rest of the dirty dishes were and left. He returned to his room, sitting at the desk and looking down at the sheets of paper in front of him. He grabbed a pencil and started to draw, lines and curves slowly forming the blank white hospital room he could still remember vividly in his mind, the way that Luffy had always been in bed, attached to several apparatus with a large silly  smile on his face, no matter how much pain he was in that day. It was a Luffy kind of day today, and Ace wanted to get it out of his system. As soon as the last detail of the drawing was done (Luffy’s brilliant wide eyes that he could never replicate properly with just pencil alone), Ace sat back and looked at the ceiling, deep in thought, barely registering the time passing by.

 

______________________________________________________________________________

 

Marco was, to say the least, a bit miffed. What had started as a commander’s meeting with Oyaji had been reduced to a petty argument between Thatch and Izou on how they should “welcome” the newcomer. “We should throw a party! Who doesn’t love parties?”

 

“Thatch you utter imbecile, can’t you see that Ace feels uncomfortable with being on the ship? Not to mention there’s plenty of people who still hold a grudge for what he did! A party would be a terrible idea, and if anyone gets too drunk and acts inappropriately, I can tell you right now Ace is going to want to leave the ship the first island we stop at!” Izou ranted with a passion.

 

“What do you know, you’ve barely seen the kid!”

 

“Yes, but unlike you I have  _ eyes _ .”

 

“Enough!” Marco snapped, forehead twitching in annoyance, “Thatch, Izou is right, Ace isn’t comfortable around so many people, having a party would be bad for both sides, yoi. Izou, while you’re deductions are correct, there were better ways you could have gone about that. We still have to discuss what to do about the medical instruments he messed with. Does anyone else have ideas how we can help Ace integrate into the crew to convince him to join, yoi?”

 

“Well, what about some type of competition?” Vista suggested peacefully, “Young Ace seems to be quite competitive and they always say competition is a good way to now another.”

 

The commanders considered the idea, many nodding in agreement. “What sort of competition though?” Fossa asked.

 

“A pranking competition?” Haruta questioned, a smile blooming on his face, “From what he pulled this morning I think he’d be one of the top three.”

 

“NO!” most of the people in the room screamed, remembering very clearly what had happened during the  _ last _ pranking competition; let’s just say it did not end well.

 

The twelfth division commander pouted, and Blenheim suggested, “What about art? I’m sure there are some decent artists on the ship that would love to show off their abilities, and I remember Blamenco mentioning that the kid had drawn something with the paper and pencils he took. It also had the added benefit of harming no one like a pranking competition would.”

 

“Well, other than people’s pride perhaps. Besides, Ace was drawing designs for machines, not art.”

 

“They’re similar enough don’t you think?”

 

Whitebeard chuckled, “I think that’s a brilliant idea. I’ve seen several of your siblings’ artistic talents, and I’m sure they would appreciate the gesture.”

 

“So an art competition?” Rakuyo asked.

 

“I guess so, yoi.” Marco sighed.

 

“Can any of us even draw?” Jozu asked warily.

 

“God I hope so or we’ll be made an embarrassment of the entire ship.” Kingdew muttered.

 

“Imagine that.” Thatch chuckled, “None of the commanders can draw and fail the competition miserably.”

 

“So is this going to be an entire ship event?” Jiru questioned, “I mean, we have  _ quite a bit  _ of people on the ship.”

 

Whitebeard chuckled again, “We don’t we have all of the commanders participate, as well as two other members for each division. The head nurse will also attend, as well as two other nurses that wish to join. Of course, Ace will also be participating as well. I will be the judge. Is this satisfactory?”

 

The commanders nodded their heads, “Wait, does the competition have to be specifically drawing?” Thatch inquired.

 

“Of course not my son, I’m well aware that many on the ship aren’t as...artistically inclined as others. As long as your work can be considered art, then it can be submitted.”

 

Thatch nodded mischievously, rubbing his hands together, “Excellent.” he mumbled, and several of the commanders slowly backed away, it was never good when the Fourth Division Commander made that face.

 

“Ok, now that we’re down with that, yoi, are all of the hidden objects Firefist took last night back with their respective owners?”

 

Izou nodded his head, “There are still a few belongings missing, but the majority have been found and given back.”

 

“That’s great. Also, what about the medical equipment? Is it still usable, yoi?”

 

“The nurse told me that not only were the machines usable, they actually worked better than before, though they couldn’t test out comfort levels.” Jiru responded.

 

Thatch snorted, “What do you know Oyaj? Seems our youngest is good with machinery. I wonder how that came to be.”

 

“Gurarara! Who knows? I’m sure once he warms up to us he’ll tell us. For now, if all other matters are done, the meeting is adjourned.” Whitebeard announced, and the commanders left one by one, muttering to themselves about their planned strategy to win the upcoming art competition. 

The giant of a pirate got up and went onto the deck, sitting on the chair his children had made especially for him. Nurses plugged him into various medical apparatus and the strongest man in the world quietly observed his children as the sun shone brightly and the sea was calm. Yet, he felt uneasy, as if it was only the eye of the storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment what you think and if I missed something/messed something up or something, yeah! Love reviews. Hope you liked the chapter :).


	5. Masterpieces and Emotional Breakdowns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title of the chapter says it all. If you can't tell, I'm terrible at coming up with chapter names.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I've been really busy *bows apologetically*. I'm afraid that updates from now on will be quite sporadic and will take some time between each one, so sorry about that. I hope you enjoy the chapter and it you see anything wrong or have any comments in general feel free to comment down below! :) For DecendingSnow, I still don't know what you meant by twist, but I hope this was ok?

Informing Ace of the competition was the easy part, convincing the teen to participate, however, was something else entirely. “Why do I have to enter the competition, I’m not even part of your crew.” the fire logia commented lightly, semi-focused on reading a book he had nabbed from the ship’s library.

 

“Yes, but the purpose of the contest is for everyone to get to know you better, yoi.”

 

“And so? I never agreed to it.”

 

Marco massaged the bridge of his nose. “How about I make a deal with you? If you enter the contest and win I’ll do one thing for you, yoi.” he suggested desperately, he made a bet with over half the commanders that he could convince the teen and he wasn’t about to lose!

 

Ace hummed in thought, “Can it be anything?” he asked, with an undertone of, something, he wasn’t really sure what it was but it made Marco wary.

 

“As long as it’s within my abilities and certain parameters.” the phoenix responded stiffly.

 

“Oh don’t worry, it will be.” Ace replied flippantly, eyes still on the novel in his hands.

 

“Does that mean you agree to the deal?” the First Division Commander inquired, reassured by his phoenix instincts that Ace’s request wouldn’t deal anyone harm in any shape or form.

 

“Sure, I’ll enter.” the teen pausing before adding, “Don’t worry, if I win I won’t make you do something you would never want to do. I’m not really one to force others to do something.”

 

The First Division Commander nodded, “You just have to create a piece of artwork in four days and then show it. It can be a painting, a sculpture, or whatever else you deem to be as art. Oyaji will be the judge. Don’t worry about biased judging either, Oyaji is a fair judge regardless of your identity. All of the commanders and two of their subordinates along with the head nurse and two of her subordinates will be participating alongside you. Do you need anything for the competition?”

 

“Mmm, yeah, I’ll think about it and give you a list later. Is that ok?”

 

Marco nodded again and left the young man to his own devices. He knew he wouldn’t get any farther into a conversation than that, the teen was quite the ice block (ironic considering his devil fruit abilities). He highly doubted Ace would win the competition. There were at least a thousand family member on the Moby Dick, there had to be at least one person on the ship better than Ace, right? He hoped so, he felt wary of what Ace might ask of him.

 

* * *

 

Four days later, everyone gathered on the deck to witness the competition. Ace had never been gladder that he had insomnia due to his narcolepsy (though he was sure his attacks would be much fiercer later on if he didn’t adjust his sleeping schedule and eating habits soon), he barely managed to finish both of his artworks. He stood next to a large easel, his usual orange cowboy hat perched atop his head. Sure, the blonde had told him he only needed to make one, but where was the fun in that? Plus, if he wasn’t in the mess hall eating, he was in his room. There were only so many books he could read and things he could make before he needed to do something else. “Is everyone ready to show off their work, yoi?” Marco called out, to which Ace and many others nodded mutely, “Ok, Oyaji, if you’ll start the judging?”

 

Whitebeard went through each and every last piece of artwork. Thatch and his two division members had all created highly elaborate confectioneries, which made several of the pirates drool. Izou had designed clothing (though he was dissatisfied that he didn’t have enough time to actually create it), while Fossa, Blamenco, and Blenheim and their division had all gone with woodworking of different sorts (one of Fossa’s division had carved a stunning likeness of Whitebeard himself), and Jozu carved a diamond into the shape of a whale. Surprisingly (since he didn’t seem like it), Marco had drawn a decent drawing of an island that they frequented, and Thatch had joked that Marco drew the island from a bird’s eye view despite the artwork being from eye-level. The artwork done by the other division members were also stunning, one of them being a delicate glass figurine of a dancer, another a scenery of a beach at high tide, while another had a wolf at night howling at the moon. The nurses’ artwork however...Ace could firmly say that the head nurse should stick to her day job, though her two associates were quite decent, one having knit a small, cute stuffed bear while the other had created a stunning flower arrangement (where she had gotten the flowers from Ace didn’t know).

 

Finally, Ace was the last contestant left, and internally he felt anticipation, though he kept his mask firmly on his face. The Whitebeard Pirates wouldn’t know what hit them! “What will you be showing today, son?” Whitebeard asked.

 

Ace firmly suppressed a twitch and carefully calmed his flames, he was irritated by the words, but it wouldn’t do good to have the pirate crew hostile at him, now was it? “But of course, I was promised something if I win, which I will try my best to do.” he replied flatly.

 

Everyone turned to look at a certain blonde, who raised his hands in surrender, “How else did you think I got him to participate, yoi?”

 

“Please don’t tell me you promised him something as suggestive as he made it sound, I know we told you to get him to join, but risking your body for it is a bit much.” Izou commented drily.

 

“Rest assured, Sixteenth Commander, it’s nothing indecent, besides, I have to win first.” Ace responded just as drily before motioning to the easel he placed his work on, “I made two pieces by the way, one of them is my actual piece, and the other is a gift to the phoenix over there. I think it’ll be easy to tell which is which.”

 

He pulled off the sheet covering the paintings with a flourish, and the pirates gasped, stunned. They heard the kid had some type of artistic ability, but they weren’t expecting this. The first painting was utterly stunning, a phoenix in mid flight looking down on a gathering of people. The painting seemed to capture Marco and the phoenix’s entire essence within the painting, blue and yellow flames looking as if they were about to flicker off the canvas. In fact, they realized the wings on the phoenix had real feathers glued over the paint, and its tail, instead of paint, was recreated using golden rings. When they looked closer at the painting, the gathering of people below started to look familiar, they could easily spot their father with his crescent shaped mustache and large form, along with all of the commanders and several others from the crew smiling wide and pointing up at the phoenix watching over them. 

 

The second painting impacted them much more than the first, though not in a positive way. Looking like it came out of an actual photo, the painting was of a hospital room. Sterile looking and void of any joy, the room made most people looking at it feel slightly disturbed, though the room itself wasn’t the most unnerving part. An EKG monitor stood in the corner, and the pirates could clearly see the flat red line running through the screen. On the hospital bed in the center of the painting lays a body, covered up completely by pristine white sheets. A tuft of fluffy looking raven hair peeks out from underneath the blanket, and a small ( _ too small _ ), thin arm can be seen lying loosely over the side of the bed. Next to the hospital bed is a nightstand, a sickly white just like the rest of the room. On it stands a strange bouquet of dead lilacs and bouvardia doubles in a small navy blue vase dotted with muted yellow stars. Next to the first vase is a bouquet of anemones in a blood red vase, the flowers and vases bringing much needed color to the rest of the painting. They notice the silhouette of a bulky man in the very far corner, his back facing away from them in front of a door, and while covered in shadow, they can clearly see the grief radiating off of the man.

 

An odd silence fills the deck as they compare the two paintings and the stark difference between the two, one capturing protection and family while the other was a perfect image of loss and pain. Ace stared back at the Whitebeard pirates, gauging their reactions. Most of them seemed torn between fondness and sorrow, understandably so of course. The second image was practically burned into Ace’s retinas along with the fire at the Grey Terminal and Sabo’s exploding ship (he had been there, he had personally witnessed the horror, and he had never forgotten), it had been the second time he had seen his grandfather cry, the first being when Sabo had died. “They are both...impressive pieces of work.” Whitebeard says slowly, a hint of  _ something _ in his tone, “I assume the phoenix painting is for my son?”

 

“Of course.” Ace responds flatly as his heart starts to beat too loudly to hear much else, “I got bored after I painted the first one, and the blue birdy over there was kind enough to get me all the supplies I needed. Think of it as a thank you gift. The other painting is my submission. What do you think?”

 

‘ _ I showed them too much, gave too much away about myself, you idiot!’ _ he mentally berated himself, the only sign of it on his outward appearance being the slight clench of his jaw and a hardening of his eyes. Thankfully, only an observant phoenix and knowing pirate captain had noticed. “Well, I must say, your painting is the best out of everyone else’s. However, if I may ask, the reason why you chose this to paint?” Whitebeard rumbled sadly, and Ace turned away slightly.

 

“I must decline answering.”

 

Whitebeard nodded, before standing up from his crouch, “Very well, it seems we have our winner! Though it seems Marco here has also gained something from this as well. ” he said chuckling lightheartedly, though his eyes were filled with empathy towards the teen.

 

“Wonderful.” the fire logia commented before staring straight into his target’s eyes, “Now then, commander, it seems you now owe me. I’ll be sure to collect the debt sooner or later.”

 

Marco sighed and nodded as other crew members started to whistle and catcall jokingly. The teen carefully wrapped the painting of the phoenix and handed it to the commander. “That being said, here.”

 

Grinning wryly, Marco accepted the painting, and Ace left to go to the mess hall. It was lunch and he already felt like his stomach was trying to eat him alive. Maybe he should start stealing more food from the storeroom, this wasn’t healthy for him. 

 

* * *

 

Days passed, and the youngest pirate on the ship didn’t seem to be that interested in talking to anyone. He stayed in his room the entire day, only coming out for food. Marco didn’t know half the things the kid did in his room to pass the time away, but he was pretty sure that Ace came out at night, usually to get another book from the library or something, and Thatch did say he noticed some food leaving the store room every so often. It didn’t really matter right now. Oyaji had told him to somehow wrangle the kid onto the deck and get him to interact with the others. Not in those words of course, but close enough. He really wasn’t paid enough for this, in fact, he wasn’t paid at all.

 

Three knocks later and a “Come in!” later, Marco is standing in front of the most secretive person on the ship. “Can you come out on the deck yoi?” he asked, knowing the probability is small, but decides to at least try.

 

“What for?”

 

“Oyaji and the others are getting worried about you because they never see your face other than at meal times.”

 

“I don’t care, it’s not like I’m a part of this crew in the first place. Oyaji? Family? What a joke, you guys are just a pirate crew, and a really big one at that. Brothers and sisters, how laughable, it’s like you actually believe that.”

 

The boy’s last sentence struck a chord within the phoenix, and he acted without even thinking. Marco grabbed the boy and pinned him against the wall, hand over the boy’s neck. “We may not be related, but we are still a family, yoi. Just like Whitebeard is my father, Thatch is my brother, simple as that. We are misfits, unwanted by the rest of the world, yoi. Oyaji took us in and gave us a home when no one else would. You may think our family is foolish, but what do you know, yoi? I don’t care what happened to you to make you who you are today, but don’t you  _ ever _ mock my family.” he growled fiercely, shocked when instead of the anger he expected from the teen, he saw understanding and loss within pain filled eyes.

 

“Ha, ha, hahahaha!” the flame logia chuckled, a hint of insanity noticeable within the teen’s tone and expression, and Marco slowly backed away in surprise as tears pooled up in Ace’s eyes.

 

“Non blooded family ties? Misfits, being unwanted? Brothers? A home? I know all about that too you know. I know about it all too well.” Ace choked out after his laughter had subsided, tears coursing their way down his cheeks, his words rising in volume with each punctuation, “I had brothers, and  _ they _ were my home. We were pretty much alone in the world, and they were my most precious treasures, my everything. Yet where are they now? Where are they? Where do you think they fucking went?”

 

The fiery teenage was screaming and practically hysterical by the end of his rant, his hands curled tightly in his hair as he glared at the Commander, still crying. Flames were shooting off nearly every single part of his body at rapid, random intervals. Marco wasn’t sure how he should react, and stood frozen in front of the young pirate. He didn’t know, couldn’t know that something like this would happen, but that was no excuse. The boy was breaking down and  _ he _ had been the cause of it. “A-Ace?” he questioned tentatively, reaching out a hand before coming to a halt and retracting said appendage as Ace’s glare only deepened.

 

After a pause, the fire logia seemed to calm down a bit. He looked away from the phoenix, his attention placed elsewhere. The teen started pacing, “Lost?” he mumbled to himself, his face blank now, “Yes,  _ lost _ . One lost at sea, another lost on land, but lost, the both of them. Lost to me and to everyone else. Both were killed by the cruel realities of the world. Dreams were lost, promises were broken...and my heart was completely shattered and ground to dust. Who knew that reality could be so devastating? Who knew that I would gain a home just to lose it almost as quickly as I obtained it? People preach of a higher being who is omnipotent and cares for all, but if there is one they must have abandoned us long ago. It should have been me who died, they didn’t deserve the cold hands of death.”

 

He paused again, before turning back to face Marco, as if realizing for the first time that he was in the room. “Pardon me,” he voiced softly, eyes wide open and looking so utterly confused and upset it made Marco feel even guiltier than he already was, “I didn’t know you were still in the room. Could you please do me a favor and leave? I need to be alone right now.”

 

“Yes, of course, but Ace? Ace I’m so sorry I didn’t know, yoi. I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge.” Marco replied feebly, his feet automatically walking towards the exit.

 

But Ace didn’t seem to be paying attention anymore, sitting on his bed and staring into nothingness, tears still dripping from his eyes. As Marco left, he heard a faint, “It’s alright, I think this is the first time I realized just how broken I am.” and the phoenix felt his heart break.

 

Yet, he couldn’t dwell on such matters, there was a meeting he had to attend and he couldn’t enter like this. His brothers and father would immediately want to know what had happened, and the phoenix didn’t really feel like explaining. The knowledge he had just been informed of had been too raw, too painful, and he knew when Ace regained his senses he would not appreciate Marco spreading what had happened in his room. He was surprised no one had noticed Ace’s rant, as loud as it was, but he put it off to the crew currently all being on deck, far enough away from any of the living quarters. He tried to maintain the calm, lazy attitude he usually wore as he entered the meeting room, but knew he had failed when his brothers and father looked at him in concern.

 

“Are you alright, son?” Oyaji inquires, “You look unwell.”

 

The phoenix considers telling his father what happened before reminding himself what a terrible idea it would be. “I had an...unfavorable encounter with the newest member on the ship.” he decided to say, stiltedly.

 

“You know, usually I’d just nod and leave it at that, because Ace can be quite difficult to deal with. But you look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” Thatch said, waving in Marco’s direction.

 

“I...may have fucked up...a lot.” the phoenix said slowly, looking away in shame, “I touched a sore spot by accident and...well, things didn’t go exactly as planned.

 

The Commanders and Whitebeard were both slightly surprised, the First Division Commander rarely cursed, and rarely looked this uncomfortable. “We won’t push the topic then.” Whitebeard stated, “But I expect you to make up with Ace, whatever it was you did. If you feel as if you need to discuss about it, I am always free to hear you out and advise you in any way you need.”

 

The Phoenix scratched the back of his head and nodded solemnly. He really needed to make it up to Ace, he never meant to push the fire logia that far. He sat down at his proper place on the right-hand side of his adoptive father. The seat on Whitebeard’s left was empty, and Marco felt another pang of pain. He had been the one with Alex right before their mission went to hell and Alex had suffered the consequences. The Second Division Commander had been gone for nearly five years now, and still none of them could bear to give another his position, and so it remained empty. ‘ _ It’s not time to think of these matters.’ _ he thought to himself, ‘ _ Right now I have to focus on other things. After the meeting I’ll go check up on Ace to see if he’s fine.’ _

 

Marco nodded to himself secretly, and waited for the meeting to commence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What'd you think? Can you guess the significance behind the flowers and vases in the second painting? What do you think is going to happen next? (Because I have no idea myself XD) I hope you liked the chapter! :)


	6. Softening Up (But is He Really?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, Marco apologizes and Ace decides to do something that'll make the Whitebeard Pirates want him to join even more, Thatch is obstinate and shameless, and Izou smells romance in the air. Indeed, what will happen next? :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, finally finished :). Oh my god, I went back and reread my previous chapters, and i thought some of them were so bad (grammar-wise and tiny bit plot wise) XD, so I might go back and fix them at a later time. For now though, please enjoy the next chapter, even though nothing really happens (unfortunately). Also, since many people were asking and answering over the flowers and vases question I put up, the answer will be in the end notes.

The next day after Ace’s breakdown, Marco found himself yet again standing in front of the fire logia’s door. “Ace?” he questioned as he knocked on the door, “Can I come it?”

 

He received no response, and while usually he would assume that he wasn’t welcome or the person wasn’t there and let it be, Marco knew if he didn’t apologize now he would miss his chance completely. Ace hadn’t been seen out of his room since their “talk” yesterday, so he was reliably certain the brunette was still inside. When he checked, he noticed the door was unlocked, so he opened the door and entered the room. Objects were laid about in disarray and were in varying levels of destruction. The only piece of furniture that had survived what had most likely been Ace’s...ah, temper tantrum was the bed at the far corner of the room, on which said teen laid, staring up at the ceiling. Ace turned to Marco as he entered the teen’s room, “Phoenix.” he said flatly, eyes dull.

 

“Ace.” Marco replied blandly, while internally worrying over the fire logia.

 

The teen looked terrible, with heavy bags and puffy eyes. He looked like he had gotten thinner despite being on the ship a little less than a week. “What are you doing here?” Ace questioned, a spark of curiosity flashing in dull grey eyes before disappearing just as quickly.

 

“I came to apologize for what I did yesterday, yoi. What I did...it was completely unacceptable. Instead of keeping a level-head, I blew up at you. Yes, my family is incredibly important to me and I dislike when others insult our family, but you’ve gone through so much loss, it was not my place to say anything without knowing the full story, yoi.”

 

There was a pause of silence in the room as the fire logia stared at Marco curiously, slowly getting up to a sitting position facing the First Division Commander, head tilted slightly to the side. “How odd,” the teen commented, sounding intrigued, “for you to apologize to me. It was I who insulted you, yet you are the one apologizing. I accept the apology, if that’s what you want, it was my fault for reacting like that. It’s strange though, I usually don’t…” he paused, “Never mind, it’s not quite important. I will have you know though, I won’t apologize for what happened yesterday.”

 

The phoenix can’t believe what he’s hearing, going back through their conversation to see if he had messed up somewhere, “You don’t have to accept the apology, that’s not why I’m here.” the Commander insisted, “I just regretted my actions, and felt that I had to apologize, that was all, I had no ulterior motives. You didn’t do a thing that you have to apologize for. Why on earth would you think I wanted you to apologize back?” he asked, puzzled.

 

“Well normally when someone apologizes, they want you to apologize back.” the teen muttered crossly, “That’s the usual deal, anyway. Yet you look so surprised at even the mention of it, you sure are strange.”

* * *

 

 

Ace stared at the man in front of him uncomprehendingly, he didn’t want Ace to return his sentiments? Only Sabo and Luffy had ever sincerely apologized to him without wanting anything in return, and Ace would usually apologize anyway because he felt guilty. It made him feel out of touch, that this man in front of him didn’t expect anything from him. ‘ _ How interesting.’ _ he thought, ‘ _ I guess he’s telling the truth, his eyes don’t look like they’re trying to hide anything, and my gut tells me he’s telling the truth.’ _ he has to stifle a laugh that he feels bubbling up, no sense in making the poor pirate think he’s going insane, ‘ _ Never thought I’d pick up checking my instincts from Lu,’ _ Ace thought wryly, ‘ _ Guess it’s starting to become useful here though.’ _

 

He turns his attention back onto Marco, ‘ _ This guy...he’s been pretty sincere and generous the entire time I’ve known him, and gives me my space, unlike the others on this ship. I won’t apologize to his face...but maybe I can do something for him?’  _ he thought, before questioning, “You said you wished for me to interact with your...family, yes?” 

 

The word family nearly stuck in Ace’s throat until he managed to choke it out, but Marco ignored it. “Well, yes, but you don’t have to, yoi.” the phoenix replied, and suddenly Ace remembered something.

 

“You didn’t tell anyone what happened yesterday, right?”

 

“Of course not, the only thing I said was that I messed up while talking to you, which ended poorly for both sides, yoi. I made no mention about the details, and I only reported that to Oyaji and the other commanders. I assume you wish for me to keep the rest a secret, yes, yoi?” Marco stated, his question sounding as if he already knew the answer.

 

The fire logia nodded, and suddenly, Ace stood up, plopping the black top hat from his bag on his head, and walked towards the door. When he noticed that Marco was still standing in his original spot, he furrowed his eyebrows, “Well, what are you waiting for?”

 

The teen thought silently to himself that he would be keeping the image of the baffled expression the pirate showed at his words for a long time coming, it felt great to throw this normally apathetic man out of whack, just like what he was doing to him. “What?” the Commander asked.

 

“You said you would like for me to meet your family, right? Well, then, introduce me.” Ace said, rolling his eyes as he motioned towards the door, “You don’t honestly think that I’m going out of this room just by myself, do you?”

 

“You know you don’t have to do this, right, yoi?” Marco wondered aloud, seemingly still surprised by Ace’s change in moods.

 

Ace rolled his eyes once more, “Of course I know that, I’m doing this because I feel like it. Now, come on, I hope you’re not busy today because I’m planning to have you as my tour guide, whether you like it or not.”

 

Marco just looked shocked for a few moments before smiling gently, “I’d be glad to be your guide today, yoi.”

 

They exited the room, and Marco turned to face Ace, “Should I ask about the furniture?”

 

Ace shook his head, “Don’t, I’ll fix what I can later and I’m sure I can do something with the rest.”

 

Nodding, Marco led the fire logia down hallways, and prepares himself for his family’s reactions. He knows that Thatch will proclaim it a miracle, and pretty much everyone else will be wondering why Ace looks to be in such bad shape and swarming the poor boy to meet him properly. Internally, he sighs, he knows Ace is quite antisocial, and will definitely hate the attention he’s certain to receive. Once again he wonders why the teen suddenly changed his mind on not interacting with the crew, especially his actions since he got onto the Moby Dick. “You’re probably wondering why I’m suddenly all for meeting the crew aren’t you?” he heard, and noticed that Ace had spoke, “I won’t tell you why, but I can tell you’re thinking about it. Don’t, you don’t know me nearly well enough to know why.”

 

Marco found himself agreeing, “I don’t, but I think I’d like to, and I think the rest of my family would too, yoi. Izou’s been dying to meet you, something about you look like you’d be fun to dress up or something, so take this information as a warning, but don’t tell Izou I said any of that. Several others want to talk to you about your artwork, you really impressed everyone during the competition, you know, yoi? Mingling with the crew is a good way to start. But I will warn you, you will be swarmed the moment you step onto the deck.”

 

He heard a sigh, “Then, can you make sure your overzealous family members won’t get too close to me?” Ace wondered, “I can react rather...violently to people touching me, especially when I don’t know about it beforehand. The only reason I didn’t roast that Thatch guy or whatever is because I knew that I would be very dead if I did and was somewhat prepared for it, but it still took some effort.”

 

Marco nods, remembering what had happened when he had placed a hand on the teen. At least his Devil Fruit abilities allowed him to not get injured, but not everyone was fire proof like him. “I’ll try my best, yoi, but I make no promises.”

 

“That’s good enough for me. If anyone gets burned then it won’t be my fault.” the Commander heard, so soft he nearly thought he had imagined it, but another look at the pirate next to him saw him with his head slightly turned away, expression turbulent.

 

‘ _ This is the person that is known for being emotionless?’ _ Marco couldn’t help but ask himself, it just didn’t seem believable. Maybe that’s what he wanted everyone to believe, but he could tell there was someone behind that curtain a steel the fire logia put up, someone beaten down many times by the world, but the damage was not unfixable, though it’d take a long time and careful handling before all the pieces could be placed back in their original positions. Whether or not anyone else would see that too was up to Ace himself, whether he would actually join the crew or not. He hoped the teen did, he didn’t know why, but he just knew the teen would fit right in with everyone else. They finally made their way to the main deck, where Marco noticed the younger man flinched ever so slightly when they got closer and closer to the hubbub. “Are you going to be ok, yoi?” he asked worriedly, not wanting to force the kid to go out onto the deck if this was how he reacted just to the noise of the crowd.

 

“I’ll be fine.” Ace tried to reassure him, but the paleness of his face certainly wasn’t helping.

 

“If you say so, yoi.” Marco said helplessly, it had been the fire logia’s decision after all.

 

They step out into open sunlight, and for a moment, Ace ignores everything around him to face the sun, spreading his arms open wide, and for a short while, a peaceful smile plays on his face. It really had been too long since he had stepped out into the sun, and damn if that didn’t make him feel like a vampire. Everyone else on the deck turn to stare at their resident fire user, shocked at how the young man looks. What surprises them the most isn’t the fact that he’s even outside on the deck (though it was suitably shocking, as he would normally stay in his room). Now outside, and  _ smiling _ , even if the boy looked a little paler and more unhealthy then a normal person usually was (which really did worry some people, including Thatch and several of the nurses and other cooks), it was still impactful enough to be imprinted in their minds. They then noticed Marco standing next to the boy, also with a relatively stunned look on his face. Thatch sidled up to the phoenix, “How’d you do it?” he stage whispers, though it seems that Ace didn’t notice, and wouldn’t for some time, “How’d you make the kid come out of his room?” he repeated again for clarification.

 

Marco rolled his eyes before playfully shoving the chef, “What is he, some wild animal? I went to apologize to him and he just suddenly felt like coming outside. Also, Thatch, I wouldn’t try touching him anytime soon. He told me he’s very uncomfortable with other people touching him, so you could get hurt. The only reason you didn’t get burned last time was purely because of luck, Ace’s survival instincts, and the split second you gave him to prepare himself. So, unless you want to be turned into barbeque, I would advise you to tread carefully. Then again, you’re you, so I don’t expect you to follow that rule anyway. Just please try to think a bit when you interact with him?”

 

Thatch rolled his eyes, “What am I to you, some uncouth swine? I’ll be sure to respect his boundaries.”

 

The chef noticed Marco’s now unamused and patronizing look, and placed his hands above his heart. “How could you!” he cried out, looking scandalized, “I can be respectful! When...when I feel like it.”

 

“And when is that?” Marco questioned crossly.

 

“Never?” Thatch stated, his face looking downtrodden.

 

“Good to know you still know yourself well enough to know the answer to that.” Marco sighed once more, before his gaze lands on Ace, who seems to have finished sunbathing, turned to face the Commander.

 

“Well then, time to meet your family I guess, right?” the teen asked, his words startling the people around them.

 

“Oi, Marco, you sure the kid didn’t actually smash his head on the ground sometimes yesterday, right?” Izou questioned from his spot near the railings, “I think this is the most interactive he’s been since coming onto the ship.”

 

Marco shrugged, “I’m not exactly sure, but I’m not one to say no to such an opportunity. Make sure no one gets to close, and if anyone makes him uncomfortable, I’m taking him away. We don’t want to scare him away or discourage him any more then we already have.”

 

The others who had overheard him nodded, it wouldn’t do them any good to scare their newest almost (hopefully) recruit off, now was it? They gathered around the teen, being careful not to crowd him. “So, why’d you suddenly come out of your room all of a sudden?” one man asked, scratching his head confusedly.

 

“That’s none of your concern.” Ace frowned, and responded coldly, “I’m just here to reintroduce myself so to speak. You can ask questions, but I don’t necessarily have to answer. You can talk to me, but I won’t necessarily talk back. Just because I’m here right now doesn’t mean a thing, don’t expect me to suddenly get all buddy buddy with you. Aside from Marco over there, I’ve barely met any of you.”

 

The people nodded their agreements, it made sense, and started talking to him one by one. “So, you’re seventeen, right? Why’d you set out so early? Don’t you have anyone-”

 

Before the man could finish, Marco had quickly thrown the man overboard. “Don’t ask about his past, yoi.” he stated firmly, a bit of anger leaking through.

 

Even as his family members looked at him strangely, the phoenix didn’t plan on explaining. He had already faced what happened when you hit Ace too deeply, and he wasn’t planning on having another incident happen again, especially somewhere so public. As his brother was pulled out of the ocean, Marco stepped back, showing that he would be protecting the young man now in front of him in case he thought he needed it. There was a bit of an awkward silence as the dripping wet man calmly dried himself off. Suddenly, he spoke, “I apologize.” he said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head, “I didn’t know it was a taboo topic.”

 

“It’s fine.” Ace stated stiffly, but inside he was reeling in amazement.

 

‘ _ These people don’t resent me for not answering? Not to mention, Marco was pretty quick to defend me. It seems I must further discover my limits on this ship.’ _ he deliberated with himself, eyes narrowing ever so slightly before quickly evening out his facial expression. Another brave soul came to talk, though thankfully it wasn’t the chef. “If you don’t mind me asking,” the pirate questioned, behaving more now that the First Commander had made an example of the first man, “how did you get your Devil Fruit? They’re a pretty rare find after all.”

 

Ace’s face became strange at this question, a mixture between pained and yet fiercely amused. Before Marco could consider whether or not to throw this guy off the boat too (which he doubted would be appreciated, but he had promised), the fire logia bit out a sharp laugh, too harsh sounding to sound like joy, yet it was still a slight chuckle. “Do you really want to know?” he questioned, tilting his head to the side, face blank yet again (it slightly unnerved them how fast the kid could change between his masks). 

 

Everyone around him nodded, and Ace let out a vicious grin, one of the few allowances of emotion he let himself have. “Technically I stole it.” he grinned, pausing to increase the anticipation for his answer, “It was right after I entered the Grand Line from some idiotic pirates that I happened to be passing by.”

 

There was an air of interest around his audience, and Ace could tell, and his expression turned into one of annoyance. “Imagine my surprise, when I found out that the pirates I had stolen the fruit from were connected to Big Mom. Apparently they had been taking a vacation in the calmer Paradise and just happened to find the Devil Fruit that I stole. They were quite unhappy with me, and Big Mom put a bounty on my head.” he sighed, shaking his head, “In the end I was chased by those pirates for three weeks before I finally lost them. Then of course after I entered the New World I personally made a deal with Big Mom so that I could keep my life and my Devil Fruit abilities, and she was satisfied. Naturally, I’m not allowed to disclose any of the details to anyone, so you can forget about it!”

 

The people surrounding him were really speechless, a nurse who had came to check the situation couldn’t hold back her words as she asked, “Goodness gracious! How many Yonko have you met?”

 

Ace looked at her indifferently, “Well, you already know that I’ve met at least two, and there are only four Yonko.” he said leisurely, “Meeting one or two more, what would the probabilities of that be? Speaking of Yonko I’ve met, I’ve met quite a few of the Warlords too. Including Jinbei, I’ve met, what, six of them now? Some of them I’ve got relatively ok relationships with, and the others I flattened into the ground to get my point across.” and with that, Ace smiled mysteriously before adding, “Honestly, who doesn’t know that when sand is heated hot enough it becomes glass?”

 

A shiver ran up spines as they heard these words. Hadn’t they heard only recently that the now ex-Warlord Crocodile, the suna-suna no mi user, had been taken to Impel Down after his plots to take over Alabasta were discovered with a missing leg? They heard that everything from the man’s left leg had been cleanly severed at the knee, and that everything from the knee up to his hip was made of glass. Obviously, none of the pirates were foolish enough to think that it was the marines who had done this, if they hadn’t found it out in all the years Crocodile was in Alabasta, then they definitely weren’t going to find out anytime soon. But, they didn’t expect that the person behind it all was in fact Ace! ‘ _ This kid, just how did he get so strong at such a young age?’ _ many wondered. None doubted his words, they had, after all, seen the miserable shape Jinbei had been in, and how even after continuous days of fighting, Ace was still able to fight Oyaji to such an extent. One person stepped up and questioned timidly, “Ah, how is it that you’re so strong? I-I’m not trying to insult you, but for your age this level of strength should be impossible.”

 

Ace’s face darkened slightly, and he held his hand up to prevent Marco from taking any action. The Whitebeard Pirates had been pretty decent to him even though their first impression of him probably wasn’t all that great. He’d been on their ship for days now and even with his rudeness, they’d been incredibly tolerant with him, even saying that if he truly did not want to join they would let him go. He felt that if he had interacted with the crew more, he would definitely be convinced to join. But, he would not join, he couldn’t. How could he, someone who brought calamity everywhere he went, stay with these people? If he got close to them, he was sure to get them all killed! But, at the very least, it shouldn’t hurt to tell a little about himself as long as he skimped on the details, right? It wasn’t like he’d be staying here much longer, he planned on leaving at the next island.

 

“This,” he muttered, before speaking loudly, “I can’t tell you all the details, but, the place I originally lived in was pretty lawless, a free for all, if you’d like. Fighting was a necessary skill just to stay alive. Later on, my adoptive grandfather also taught me some things.”

 

The pirates surrounding him nodded their heads, as if they understood what he meant. There were several holes in his explanation, like how strong his grandfather had to be to train his grandson to be this strong, and just how bad the environment he grew up in was. It made them curious. They wanted to get to know this teen better, they only hoped that eventually he would let them. The fire logia frowned, he should have said enough, he could probably go back now. Only, he doesn’t want to, he’s had a taste of the company of the Whitebeard Pirates, and while he was the one who said the most, he quite enjoyed it. It kind of reminded him of when he had stayed with Shanks and his crew for a while. At the same time, he shouldn’t trouble the pirates anymore. “Hey, Blue Bird, can you take me back to my room?” he questioned, looking over at Marco.

 

It took Marco a moment to adjust to the fact that Ace had just called him by a  _ nickname _ , but he eventually nodded and silently turned around and headed back into the living quarters on the ship. The deck filled with silence, and many contemplated the fire logia’s words. “I wonder,” Thatch commented, do you think he’ll join?”

 

“Who knows?” Izou shrugged, making his way to where the chef stood, “So far, he hasn’t shown any inclination on joining, but that could change at any time. This time, he decided to take the initiative of getting to know us, so we should start doing the same. However, why he suddenly decided to do so today after days of refusing to acknowledge us, don’t you think it’s strange?”

 

“Maybe he finally thinks that since he’s been on the boat so long without an island in sight he may as well get to know us?” Thatch guessed, face doubtful.

 

“Maybe…” Izou trailed off, lost in thought, before asking, “Hey Thatch, do you think Ace likes Marco?”

 

“Well, I guess he trusts him enough to protect him from the other crewmembers.” Thatch considered, “But what does that have to do with anything?”

 

Izou could only sigh in exasperation before lightly whacking Thatch in the back of the head with a fan, “Never mind, obviously an idiot like you wouldn’t understand.”

 

The Sixteenth Commander left in a huff, leaving the Fourth Commander confused. Many who had witnessed their conversation couldn’t help but feel pity, while Thatch could be quite intuitive in certain matters, he seemed to be completely oblivious when it came to love. At the same time, they also felt slight pity for their First Commander and the new hopeful recruit. Once Izou set his eyes on a couple he wanted to happen, he would do almost anything to make sure they would get together. More often than not, they would, but it didn’t mean that their Sixteenth Commander didn’t receive his nickname of Matchmaker from Hell wrongly! They were expecting many “accidental” meetings and awkward happenings for the two in the future. The pirates also knew that Ace wasn’t going to leave anytime soon, not if their Fourth Commander looked to already be planning a wedding!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Dark blue vase with yellow muted stars: represents both Sabo and Luffy, since to Ace they were his everything, his sky and his bright star in his life that are now both dead and therefore the navy blue (Sabo) and muted yellow (Luffy), (I considered putting suns or moons along with the stars, but this seemed to match a bit better).   
> 2\. Red Vase: I know I know, red is more commonly placed with Luffy since all he wear is that bright red shirt, but on the ASL flag, Luffy's 'L' is in yellow while Ace's 'A' is in red. The specifics of the blood red is pretty much to give it a noticeable color, along with the fact that Ace would rather die in place of his brothers, also symbolized by the flowers in the vase. This is also a bit of foreshadow, which I won't reveal because then it'll spoil everything I'm trying to get here, though there should be hints in previous chapters and in some of the comments, though hopefully I made them subtle.  
> 3\. By the way, I also believe that these colors also match their personalities pretty well, and if you don't know what yellow, red, or blue represent, search it up if you're curious.  
> 4\. Dead lilacs: Lilacs represent youthful innocence and confidence, both of which represent Sabo and Luffy pretty well before they died. The dead part just means that now it's gone, and it's not coming back, enforcing the fact that both Ace's brothers are dead.  
> 5\. Dead bouvardia doubles: Pretty much the same as above, only that bouvardia doubles represents enthusiasm or zest for life. I'm pretty sure we all know that Luffy and Sabo both have incredibly strong wills to live (and we know why too...looking at you Garp and scary forest with giant animals and bandits and giant trash heap surrounding a city filled with trashy nobles that don't deserve Sabo...and then there's just the general they get into trouble/life-threatening situations a lot) And yes, this is pretty much Ace just kicking himself in the face.  
> 6\. Anemones: They can represent feeling of having been forsaken, dying hope, and in Japan it means ill tidings. In Asian countries in general it means bad luck and illness, while in the more Western meaning, it meant the arrival of spring breezes and death of a loved one. I'm guessing you can figure this one out? Ace lost both brother in a short period of time and if you remember his breakdown...he feels pretty damn forsaken. If you read this chapter before jumping own here, Ace feels that he's bad luck to everyone he knows. As for the last meaning...foreshadowing time (kind of, stuff with this is already happening, so it's technically not foreshadowing...you get what I mean) :).
> 
> I hope you like the chapter and comment down below if there's anything you want to say! What do you think? Went to fast or not fast enough? Any ideas on Izou's matchmaking plans or Thatch's obliviousness (no, but really, I have no clue what I want to do with this XD).


	7. Running Out Of Medication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title's pretty literal, Ace runs out of narcolepsy meds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Great apologies for not posting for so long!!! This is pretty short, so sorry! But I hope you enjoy it?

After meeting up with some of the Whitebeard Pirates, Ace holed himself in his room once more, though this time it was to salvage what he could from the wreckage in his room and throw everything else out. With Marco’s help, he replaced the broken furniture in his room. Once this was completed, he once again left the confines of his room after grabbing the orange cowboy hat placed on his new table and letting it hang down his back by a string around his neck. He went straight to the mess hall, where he grabbed a plate full of food and sat down next to the First Commander, and started to dig in. “So, when are we going to be landing on the next island?” he questioned offhandedly, not noticing the horrified stares he was receiving for his words.

 

“Are you already planning to leave us so soon?” Thatch cried out dramatically, clutching at his heart as he looked at Ace with an exaggerated pout, but underlying the chef’s theatrics lay real concern.

 

The scene made Ace roll his eyes, “Who knows,” he replied vaguely, “But I do need to get some things, so hopefully on the next island I can find some.”

 

Hope rose in the optimistic pirates, maybe the fire logia was planning on staying with them? “What do you need?” Izou questioned, “Perhaps we have some on the ship. We’re not expected to dock at another island for at least two weeks.”

 

The fire logia groaned, “Never mind then, I can wait.”

 

Frowns were apparent on those who overheard the conversation, Ace clearly didn’t trust them much, but they had hoped that with his interaction with the crew he’d be a little more open. “Ok, then, but you know if you need anything you can just ask, right?” Izou said, pouting slightly.

 

“Hmm? Yeah, got it.” Ace replied noncommittally as he finished eating his dinner before getting up, “I think I’ll go to back to my room. See you tomorrow?”

 

A chorus of farewells answered him back, and Ace exited the room after waving good night. “Do you think he’ll stay?” Haruta questioned idly, looking around at the other commanders.

 

“Only time can tell, though I hope he does.” Marco muttered, face grim, only overheard by a certain cross dresser and chef sitting near him.

 

Izou hid a smirk, and wiggled his eyebrows at Thatch, who rolled his eyes and went continued to eat.

* * *

 

Back in his room, Ace placed the cowboy hat back down next to the other two hats on his desk. For a minute, he contemplated the display, before suddenly thinking of a great use for some of the debris that he had salvaged from his room earlier. He decided to go and “borrow” some things from other parts of the ship, and got to work. About two hours later, a rack was nailed onto the wall to his door’s right. Above the three hooks on the rack were small carvings the fire logia had made. On the far right was a carving of a flaming A in the middle of a decorated Ace of Spades, a cowboy hat lying right next to the bottom of the spade. In the middle of the rack was a  stylized S with a top hat perched precariously atop it, and above the last hook was a carving of a clumsy L, a straw hat hanging loosely at the corner of the L. Carefully, Ace moved the three hats into their new respective places, and beamed at his handiwork. After cleaning up the wood shavings, tools, and other materials he had used, the fire logia sat at his desk and twirled about on his new spinny chair. Then he decided to pull out a sheet of paper and a couple pencils. ‘ _ What should I draw today?’ _ he wondered, pondering over the question as he twirled a pencil about his fingers. 

 

Placing the pencil tip to paper, Ace decided to see where his imagination would take him. He drew the rough outlines of faces, which quickly turned into his family, both dead and alive. A self-portrait of himself stood smiling in the middle of the picture, while he was surrounded on both sides by older versions of Sabo and Luffy. Ace kept the older Sabo with a blue suit and top hat, keeping his hair short and hesitatingly adding a burn mark on his face. The older Luffy looked much healthier than he had before he passed away, a smile on his face that had disappeared near the end of his life. His youngest brother wore the same clothes he did before he died, a buttoned up bright red vest and blue short with a fluffy white trim around the bottom of the leg area, his treasured straw hat placed firmly on his head.

 

Behind him stood the bulking figures of Garp in his marine uniform and Dadan. A bit farther in the distance to his right, Dragon, whose face Ace hid with the hood of a cloak. You could barely make out the tribal tattoos on his face, though his determined grin stood out the most amongst the man’s shadowed features. Makino in her bandana and kind smile stood near Dragon, looking at the four in front with fondness. On the far left side of the paper, Ace’s hand hesitated and faltered, unsure or who to place there. Should he keep the space blank and draw a windmill to signify Fuusha village, or should he place Shanks and the Red-Haired Pirates into the picture? 

 

It was a difficult decision, and one Ace couldn’t decide which one was better. On one hand, he still wasn’t ready to accept that the red-haired Yonko was practically his uncle by this point. His mind was still dancing about the issue but it was already quite clear that Shanks had become close with the other members of Ace’s small, tight-knit family already. Without his knowing, Shanks had gotten into contact with both the old man and his adoptive dad.

 

Eventually, the young pirate decided that he may as well add Shanks and a few others onto the paper, since it wasn’t like anyone would see his drawing anyway. He hastily sketched the red-haired Yonko along with Benn, Yassop, Lucky Roo, and Rockstar on the empty far left side of the paper. Satisfied with his work, Ace leaned back on his chair, holding the drawing in front of him proudly before adding more details and finesse to the sketch. Just as he was about to scratch in the details of Luffy’s hat, he heard a knock on the door. “Come in!” he cried out as he frantically hid the paper in a desk drawer and slyly grabbed a new sheet of paper from another desk and started sketching the first thing that came to mind.

 

Izou strode into the room, his kimono twirling about before he settled on Ace’s bed. “Hello, dear.” he said calmly, picking at his kimono, “Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions? I just want to get to know you a bit better.”

 

Eyes narrowing, Ace glanced at the Sixteenth Commander. “I suppose so.” he began slowly, before adding, “However, I have full rights to refuse answering, is that clear?”

 

The other man nodded in agreement, “That is fine, I’m not going to try and interrogate you.” a thoughtful look passed his face and Izou frowned minutely, “Yet, anyway, never mind the fact that I don’t even have blackmail material on you, which is quite the shame.”

 

Unease slipped into Ace’s mind, though he kept up his poker face. “Ask away then, Commander.”

 

A smile appeared on Izou’s face, quickly turning into a sly smirk, “So then,” he began, “Are you finally warming up to us? You used to be such an ice block.”

 

The fire logia frowned slightly, before replacing it with his previous blank face. “I was returning a favor.” he stated calmly, “Please don’t expect me to actually assimilate with you guys. The moment this ship hits the next populated island I’m out of here.”

 

“Are you sure?” Izou asked anxiously, smile slipping off his face, “We still have some time before we’re predicted to land, maybe you’ll change your mind?”

 

“I find that highly unlikely.” Ace replied, turning away once more to continue to sketch. 

 

As his pencil scratched the paper in front of him lightly, he felt Izou getting up and walking up behind him. “What are you drawing?” the geisha-like man questioned.

 

Ace didn’t see the problem in answering, “I’m just doodling.” he replied, “I create random shapes on paper then try to see what I can make from them. It’s a game that I used to play wi-” the teen stopped himself before he revealed any important information about the past, “forget about it.” he mumbled.

 

“Is that a phoenix?” Izou asked, his words curious, holding a hint of something more suggestive than what Ace was willing to analyze.

 

Finally actually looking at what he was sketching, Ace saw that indeed, it was phoenix. “Huh, I wasn’t paying attention.”

 

Izou shuffled about as Ace continued to sketch in silence, “Well,” he stated, “I guess I’d better leave then. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow at breakfast?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

The commander hid his mouth with a hand, his eyes glittering in amusement. Just as he planned on leaving the room, the teen’s body slackened and his face suddenly slammed onto the desk. Worry took over Izou as he hurriedly lifted the fire logia’s head to check for any sign of what caused the sudden collapse. He sighed in relief when he passed his hand under Ace’s nose to feel air blowing on it. Turning the younger pirate’s head side to side, he couldn’t tell what had happened. The teen appeared to be sleeping, a snot bubble blowing out of his nose as drool leaked down his chin. Just as he was about to run to the infirmary to get a nurse, Ace’s snot bubble popped and his eyes suddenly blinked open, scaring the daylights out of the Sixteenth Division Commander. “Wah?” Ace mumbled, blearily looking around and wiping away the drool on his chin.

 

He turned to stare at Izou, pausing for a moment before his eyes widened. As quickly as he had reacted, the teen’s face shut down, showing no sign of a previous reaction. The Commander frowned, “Ace,” he began, but Ace held up a hand.

 

“Nope, I’m fine, there’s nothing wrong with me, you can leave now.” he stated blankly, motioning at his door.

 

Izou hesitated, before nodding slowly. As the crossdresser placed his hand on the doorknob, he turned back to face Ace, “You know, if you have any problems, we’re here to help.”

  
The teen waved him off silently, and Izou slinked out of the room, face pensive and lost in thought. Back in his room Ace stared morosely at an empty pill bottle in his hand as he continued to sit at his desk. ‘ _ Of all times to run out of meds, it had to be when we’re weeks away from land.’ _ the teen scowled, tic mark forming at the corner of his forehead, ‘ _ If this continues, I might not be able to hide it much longer.’  _ The fire logia placed the bottle back into his bag and groaned while dumping his forehead on his desk. This was going to be a long two weeks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't promise you guys when I can update next, but I promise I will at some point!! I got a whole plot kind of plotted out already after all.


	8. Ace Just Wants to Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace is still struggling with his narcolepsy, and marines decide to screw up his and Marco’s day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...ehehehe its been like a year sorry for never updating I’m a sorry piece of trash I know, but uhh, hope you enjoy the chapter?

A little over a week later, it was already painfully difficult to hide the symptoms of his narcolepsy. During his weekly call to Shanks he had suddenly fallen asleep and woke up to Shanks nearly screaming in panic that Ace had suddenly been killed, with Benn trying to calm the rest of the crew and was thankful when Ace had apologized for his sudden lack of noise. When he told of them the predicament he was in, they suggested they could send a carrier bird to give him the medication. The fire logia declined, heart warming slightly at their care for his wellbeing, but not willing to risk anyone on the ship from finding out his narcolepsy or his ties with the Yonko. Ace just thanked that he had been lucky enough so far that no one on board had managed to find out about his...irritating affliction and that he hadn’t yet seriously injured himself. However, Ace knew that he couldn’t keep a secret forever, and he didn’t know how the Whitebeard pirates would react. While they were welcoming to him now, he couldn’t trust that they wouldn’t act differently if they found out.

 

A loud booming sound shook him from his thoughts and he quickly grabbed Sabo’s top hat before rushing outside, the hat nearly flying off his head as he slammed the door shut. He rushed to the top deck, observing Whitebeard pirates scrambling about. In front of them, sailed a fleet of marine stamped ships, and Ace felt something in his gut curl. He nabbed a nearby pirate, “What’s going on?” he asked.

 

“Who knows? The damned Marines popped outta the blue a few minutes ago. If you don’t want to be associated with Pops, you’d better hurry back to your room!”

 

Nodding briefly before letting the man go, the fire logia ignored the man’s words, at least partially, as he continued onto the deck, but placed himself in a position where it would be nearly impossible for marine eyes to spot him. His identity to the marines was a bit...unsteady, if he were to say anything about the topic. While he was now considered a scourge of the sea, he had once worked for the marines in exchange for access to their labs for experimenting and researching ways to save Luffy when his brother was still alive. Fortunately for him, he did not have to help the other scientists in any way, though he felt that was more due to Garp than anything else. Once they had acknowledged his knowledge of technology and science, and affirmed that his interest was purely nonaggressive, made him sign a nondisclosure agreement, and he was given free reign of his designated lab space.

 

That was, of course, when his reminiscing was cut off as the marines started firing on them. Ace blanched when he saw the guns. Normally, he wouldn’t care, as a logia, objects just passed right through him if he wanted them to, bullets included. But these weren’t normal guns. When he was at the lab, there was a prototype for guns that could shoot seastone bullets, and these guns looked exactly like them. ‘ _ I guess not a prototype anymore.’  _ he murmured to himself, and prepared to dodge or use his haki at any moment. At the corner of his eye, he noticed the Phoenix standing there, unmoving, most likely confident the bullets would not hurt him. Uncharacteristically for him (though really, his entire stay on the Moby had been quite a whirlwind of feelings that he wasn’t ready to confront  _ ever, _ especially not now of all times), he shouted, “Get down!”

 

Nearly everyone on the ship turned to look at who had made the noise, and realizing who had screamed, immediately took cover. If the resident “emotionless”(they were learning that while the kid could shut down on people, he was not as emotionless as it previously was assumed)  kidnappee could release such a fearful expression, then they were going to go down on the deck faster than someone could say “Whitebeard”; well, except for one person. “Stupid Bird!” Ace shouted fearfully, “Get down!” 

 

Right after the words escaped his lips, he froze as multiple bullets hit the Commander straight on, the commander’s chest and stomach turned red with blood within milliseconds. Time slowed, and he noticed Marco’s expression change from one of contempt to one of shock, and then pain, as the man fell backwards onto the deck. The flame user ran towards the Commander, using his busoshoku haki to block the bullets. He internally wondering what on earth he was doing, and shoved the thought aside for later, focusing on saving the man in front of him. “Idiot, did you not think that the marines would ignore the fact that there are two commanders on board that are practically impossible to kill because of their devil fruits?” he muttered angrily, “Dumb turkey, the marines aren’t as stupid as you think you know.”

 

The man turned at the sound of his voice, frowning  and groaning in confusion and pain. “You with me?” he anxiously asked when he approached the man, and he received another groan in return, “I guess that’s a yes.” Ace muttered to himself.

 

His wandering mind came back to once again ask what on earth he was doing. It was strange, Ace thought to himself, that he had decided to help the other man, as if something pulled him towards the older pirate. He wasn’t one for charity, not even mentioning the fact that he was currently helping the guys who had kidnapped him. Now, however, was not the time to be dilly dallying, a fight was still going on and none of the Whitebeard Pirates were available to aid him. “Now what?” he muttered to himself, before turning to Marco, “Oi, where’s the infirmary?”

 

Marco lifted his head to peer blearily at Ace, his eyes rolled listlessly before slowly coming back into focus. “Just pry the bullets out, once the kairoseki is out I’ll be fine.” the Phoenix grunted in pain.

 

Even in this situation, Ace managed to pull off a blank expression even as his heart raced in panic, “Sorry,” he deadpanned, “I don’t pull bullets out of someone’s torso until the third date.”

 

The teen decided to leave the fact out that he was not going to be able to pull the bullet out without some sort of incision, and he wasn’t about to use the knife his brothers had given him to do it, not even mentioning that it was unsanitary and the blade wasn’t made for such purposes anyways. Besides, most of his more complicated medical knowledge other than basic first aid and those pertaining to Luffy’s illness was theoretical, and he didn’t want to accidentally kill the man just because of his lack of actual medical experience, especially for traumatic injuries since he was, after all, a logia.

 

Marco let out a pained snort, and rolled his eyes, “Leave me here any longer and there won’t even be a first one.” the man shakily raised a hand and pointed at a seemingly random hallway nearby, “Go down that hallway and turn right at the fourth door.” the man gasped out, wheezing.

 

“Got it.” Ace said, before dragging the taller man with him down a hallway, thankful that there was a clear symbol on the door of the infirmary, and opened the door with a light kick of his foot.

 

‘ _ I am so glad he seems to have a high pain tolerance,’ _ Ace thought to himself as Marco didn’t even make a peep, and was still conscious as he dragged the man into the room. 

 

Nurses immediately swarmed them, taking Marco out of Ace’s hands and sitting the young man down to check if he was injured or not. Ace waved them away, insisting that he was fine, flinching violently as a nurse touched his left wrist. He didn’t need them to look too closely near or underneath his log pose and bracelet, and was glad that when he had first woke up on the ship with his log pose removed it didn’t seem as if anyone had noticed anything weird, or if they did they were smart or kind enough not to mention anything.

 

After he had nearly blew up at the over the top treatment he was receiving from the nurses, he managed to escape their grasp and run to his room, noticing as he passed by that the battle was nearly over. He slammed his door shut and locked it behind him before burrowing under his blankets, curling up into a fetal position. Muscles locked up as Ace attempted to calm his shuddering breaths, in, out, in, out, slowly, gently, his muscles relaxed  over time and he released his knees from where they were curled near his chest, letting his feet pop out slightly from under the covers. 

 

Touch was uncomfortable for Ace, to say the least. He used to hate it before his brothers changed his mind. Once they were gone, Ace had once again hated human touch, as the only touch he had received from anyone but his brothers had been those with violence, greed, or other nasty desires hidden behind them. Even Garp had punched Ace more than he had shown any physical affection with him, even with the ridiculous naming of his “Fist of Love” didn’t hide the fact that it was still violence hidden within the the care he had for his grandson. 

 

The Red Haired Pirates, however, had come close to what his brothers had felt like when touched him, but Ace hadn’t known them for long enough, so the caring touches and signs of affection had been much too awkward for Ace and so he had tried his best to avoid them. Not even Shanks’ penchant to glomp people, especially when drunk, had made Ace give the pirate captain any more leeway than he did with the rest of the crew. While their touch was done with good intentions and care for the teen, it made Ace’s skin crawl in fear that they were becoming part of his family, that they would be put at risk if they associated with him. Now that he had already reluctantly accepted them into his mix match of a family, they were far away somewhere on the vast ocean, and Ace kind of missed the hugs the red haired Yonko gave and the reassuring pats on the shoulder the Yonko’s first mate liked to dish out to their youngest honorary member. 

 

On the other hand, the Whitebeards were strange, their touches were filled with care and familial love just like the Red Haired Pirates, but unlike the Red Haired Pirates, they had no previous connection with him other than occasionally seeing his face in the newspaper perhaps. Ace couldn’t understand, no, didn’t want to understand, the implications behind the difference of the Whitebeards and nearly everyone else he had known. 

 

Suddenly, the events of the day rushed past him and he remembered when Marco had joked about not having a first date even as he laying bleeding out on the ground, and heat rose to his face. He was no expert in any sort of human relationship, but he was pretty sure the older man was flirting with him. ‘ _ He was probably just trying to distract himself from the pain.’  _ Ace reasoned with himself, yet somehow, he could not shake the blush off his face, and groaned.

 

“I swear the Whitebeards are going to be the death of me, one way or another.” The fire logia muttered aloud turning and twisting this way and that on his bed, trying to get comfortable and absolutely failing.

  
His stomach grumbled, ‘ _ I really need to start stealing more from their storeroom or else I’ll die of starvation first _ .’ Ace thought unhappily, rubbing his stomach until he fell into a fitful nap to hopefully keep his narcolepsy at bay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God I hope there are still people waiting for the next chapter I really am sorry for posting so late. I know this ones a bit shorter than my usual but I couldn’t cram anything else in without making it obviously I was cramming stuff in. Hope you enjoyed it though! Next up we have Marco waking up in the infirmary and some awkward fluff...kinda? It’s basically the kind of good part before the other shoe drops and the terrible angst monster tears it’s ugly head again :P Hope you guys are ok with waiting for the next chapter, as I know the next one is probably not coming out anytime soon, sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> I hoped you liked reading it so far, but I will warn you now I'm usually a relatively slow updater, but I already have three actual chapters of this in the works which hopefully I'll finish betaing soon. If you find any mistakes tell me since I mostly self-beta. Please comment below if you liked it or not and why! Thank you! :)


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